THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 

GIFT  OF 

John  S.Prell 


I 


ON 


TECHNOLOGICAL    EDUCATION 


AND   THE 


CONSTRUCTION 


OP 


SHIPS  AND  SCREW  PROPELLERS, 


FOE 


NAYAL  AND  MARINE  ENGINEERS. 


BY 

JOHN  W.  NYSTROM, 

LATE  ACTING  CHIEF  ENGINEER  UNITED  STATES  NAVY. 


SECOND  EDITION  REVISED,  WITH  ADDITIONAL  MATTER. 


PHILADELPHIA: 
HENRY    CAREY   BAIRD, 

INDUSTKIAL  PUBLISHER, 
406  Walnut  Street. 

1866. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1866,  by 
HENEY  CAREY  BAIRD, 

in  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States 
in  and  for  the  Eastern  District  of  Pennsylvania. 


PHILADELPHIA : 
COLLINS,  PBINTEB,  786  JAYNK  STREET. 


141 


PREFACE  TO  THE  SECOND  EDITION, 


A  SECOND  edition  of  this  work  has  been 
called  for,  and  as  Congress  has  taken  no  action 
on  the  subject,  the  author  avails  himself  of  the 
opportunity  to  add  further  arguments  in  favor 
of  technological  education.  The  topic  cannot 
be  too  much  discussed,  and  certainly  merits  the 
serious  consideration  of  every  good  citizen. 

There  are  many  engineers  in  the  Navy  who 
would  be  equally  disposed  to  agitate  this  sub- 
ject and  assist  in  the  reorganization  and  im- 
provement of  the  corps,  but  their  position 
restrains  them,  and  they  cannot  expose  them- 
selves to  the  ungrateful  task,  which  is  unavoid- 
able in  the  elucidation  of  the  existing  system. 
The  lot  seems  to  have  fallen  on  the  author  to 
take  the  bull  by  the  horns,  and  he  fearlessly 
courts  an  open  contest,  if  such  can  only  be  had, 
with  the  organized  prejudices  which  now  em- 
barrass the  subject.  If  in  fault,  he  is  open  for 

correction. 

1* 

713786 


vi  PREFACE. 

It  is  to  be  regretted  that  this  theme  cannot 
be  fairly  treated  without  attacking,  as  it  were, 
functionaries  who  only  happen  to  be  illustra- 
tions of  a  decrepit  system;  but  it  is  to  be 
hoped  that  those  gentlemen  who  have  been 
thus  particularized  will  join  in  the  proposition 
at  issue. 

If  the  engineers  themselves  are  not  suffi- 
ciently alive  to  the  importance  of  this  subject 
from  a  deficiency  of  experience  in  applied 
science,  of  course  it  will  not  be  expected  that 
politicians,  who  have  no  light  to  guide  them 
but  a  sense  of  duty,  can  possibly  assume  the 
initiation  of  any  such  reformations  as  these. 

What  is  true  in  reference  to  the  interests  of 
the  Federal  Government,  applies  with  equal 
force  to  the  civil  interests  of  all  'the  separate 
States,  each  of  which  ought  to  have  its  Techno- 
logical Institute,  to  give  the  entire  profession 
of  Civil  and  Mechanical  Engineers  that  com- 
pleteness of  qualification  for  their  career,  which 
by  the  existing  system  is  so  rarely  and  so  im- 
perfectly attained. 

PHILADELPHIA,  March  28,  18G6. 


PREFACE  TO  THE  FIRST  EDITION. 


MUCH  consideration  has  been  given  to  the 
propriety  of  publishing  the  accompany  ing  views 
on  technological  education,  as  they  were  ori- 
ginally not  intended  for  that  purpose ;  but  as 
some  steps  must  be  taken  in  that  direction 
before  long,  in  compliance  with  what  many 
deem  an  imperious  public  necessity,  the  hesita- 
tion was  at  length  relinquished.  In  order  to 
render  the  necessity  of  technological  education 
more  conspicuous,  occasional  reference  has  been 
made  to  actual  cases  of  engineering  disappoint- 
ments and  mismanagement,  growing  out  of  a 
want  of  applied  science.  Engineers  are  often 
intrusted  with  responsible  stations,  without 
being  possessed  of  adequate  knowledge  of  their 
profession,  or  without  having  gradually  and 
fairly  earned  such  appointment  in  the  field  of 


yiii  PREFACE. 

experience.  It  is  not  yet  time  to  attempt  to 
classify  the  rank  and  position  of  engineers  in 
the  several  departments,  civil  and  military,  on 
land  and  sea,  as,  for  obvious  reasons,  it  must 
be  deferred. 

The  relation  between  engineers  and  sailing 
officers  on  board  of  steamers  has,  in  all  coun- 
tries, been  a  troublesome  question,  ever  since 
the  introduction  of  steam.  The  engineer  knows 
himself  to  be  in  a  very  responsible  position, 
not  always  appreciated  by  his  captain.  He  is 
often  of  very  limited  education,  and  when  he 
finds  himself  imposed  upon,  perhaps  inadver- 
tently uses  stronger  language  than  necessary 
in  his  defence,  which  has  often  been  the  cause 
of  discord. 

Education  is  necessary  to  the  engineer,  not, 
however,  principally  for  enabling  him  to  please 
the  captain,  but  for  the  proper  performance  of 
his  professional  duty  generally,  and  he  will,  at 
the  same  time,  accord  and  harmonize  better 
with  the  sailing  officers  by  whom  he  is  sur- 
rounded. 

The  Corps  of  Engineers  in  the  United  States 


PREFACE.  ix 

Navy  is  on  a  better  footing  than  that  of  any 
one  in  Europe,  but,  nevertheless,  it  does  not 
enjoy  the  standing  due  to  its  important  office, 
either  in  respect  to  its  rank  or  its  education. 
The  United  States  Navy  has  now  taken,  the 
lead  in  the  new  tactics  of  naval  warfare,  and 
through  a  decisive  experience  has  developed 
the  necessity  of  making  a  corresponding  change 
in  its  executive  organization,  as  regards  the 
rank  and  learning  of  its  engineers. 

What  is  required  here  cannot  be  learned  in 
foreign  countries,  for  whilst  our  present  expe- 
rience is  far  ahead  of  theirs,  neither  their  prac- 
tical knowledge  nor  their  accepted  theories  are 
sufficient  or  altogether  applicable  to  our  case. 
It  is  therefore  necessary  for  the  Corps  of  En- 
gineers, relying  only  upon  their  characteristic 
enterprise  and  independence  of  mind,  to  carry 
their  achievements  still  further  onwards,  and 
by  qualifying  themselves  to  maintain  with  dig- 
nity their  appropriate  rank  in  the  service,  at 
the  same  time  preserve  their  well-earned  posi- 
tion as  pioneers  in  their  professional  career. 

The   writer  has   for   many  years   felt   the 


X  PREFACE. 

greatest  interest  in  the  progress  and  standing 
of  this  Corps,  and  respectfully  begs  leave  to 
submit  herewith,  for  their  consideration,  some 
views  On  this  subject,  parts  of  which  have  al- 
ready been  communicated  to  the  Congressional 
Committees  on  Naval  Affairs,  as  also  a  further 
communication  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy. 
JOHN  W.  NYSTROM. 


CONTENTS. 


On  Technological  Education         ....  13 
The  knowledge  of  Steam-Engineering  behind  the 

knowledge  of  science 14 

Failure  of  Steamers  for  a  want  of  applied  science  1 5 
Fresh  water  condensers,  and  combustion  of  fuel  .  16 
Knowledge  of  Steamship  performance  ...  17 
Expansion  experiments  made  by  the  Navy  De- 
partment      18 

Natural  effect  of  Steam  or  maximum  work  per 

unit  of  heat 19 

Natural  effect  of  S  team-Engines  .  .  .  .20 
Nystrom's  Pocket-Book  .  .  .  .21 
Eeform  wanted  in  scientific  books  ...  23 
America  has  taken  the  lead  in  popular  education  25 
Technological  Institutions  wanted  ...  26 
The  National  Academy  of  Sciences  ...  27 
Object  of  Technological  Institutions  ...  29 
Steam-Engineering  and  Shipbuilding  ...  30 
Necessity  of  complete  drawings  before  the  build- 
ing of  steamers  is  commenced  ....  31 


Xii  CONTENTS. 

America  has  taken  the  lead  in  the  new  naval  tac- 
tics             .        .        .        .33 

The  Naval  Academy,  at  Annapolis,  not  proper  for 

a  school  of  Steam-Engineering          ...  36 

Want  of  applied  science  in  our  workshops   .        .  38 

Locomotive  engineering 39 

Communication  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy  on 

the  science  of  Shipbuilding 41 

Shipbuilders  consider  their  art  a  craft  ...  43 

Shipbuilders' jealousy 46 

Shipbuilding  developed  to  the  condition  of  a  sci- 
ence    47 

Memorandum 50 

Chief-Engineer  Isherwood  does  not  approve  the 

Parabolic  Construction  of  Ships  ...  50 
On  the  Parabolic  Construction  of  Ships  ' .  .53 
Application  of  the  Parabolic  Construction  of 

Ships  ' 72 

Kecording  formulas 74 

Becording  tables 76 

The  labor  of  calculating  the  shipbuilding  tables   .  81 
Mr.  W.  L.  Hans,com,  Naval  Constructor,  on  the  • 

Parabolic  Method    ' 83 

Mr.  J.  Vaughan  Merrick  on  the  Parabolic  Con- 
struction      84 

Resignation,  by  the  Author,  as  Acting  Chief-En- 
gineer in  the  Navy 85 


CONTENTS.  xill 

Memorandum 87 

The  science  of  dynamics  in  a  confused  condition  .  88 
Illustrations  required  in  dynamics  ,  .  .91 
Mr.  Isherwood  declines  having  the  subject  of  dy- 
namics cleared  up  *  .  .  .92 
The  subject  of  dynamics  submitted  to  the  National 

Academy  of  Sciences 95 

On  the  elements  of  dynamics ;  force,  power,  and 

work,  defined .96 

Work,  a  trinity  of  physical  elements  ...  99 
Discussion  with  naval  engineers  on  the  subject  of 

dynamics 99 

Questions  in  dynamics  submitted  to  the  Academy 

of  Sciences 101 

Vis-viva  ........  104 

Unit  for  power "  .  .  106 

Unit  for  work 106 

Navy  Department  attempting  to  reorganize  the 

corps  of  engineers 109 

Washington  Navy  Yard 109 

Engineers  in  the  Navy  Department  .  .  .111 
Captain  Fox  on  engineering  and  the  construction 

of  ships 112 

Secrecy  respecting  ships'  drawings  .  .  .  114 

Steam-boiler  explosions  .  .  .  .  .  117 

Review  of  screw  propellers 126 

To  construct  a  plain  screw 127 

Propeller  with  a  compound  expanding  pitch  .  128 
2 


XIV          .  CONTENTS. 

Propeller  as  constructed  by  Chief-Engineer  Isher 
wood  ....  .  132 

Propeller  as  constructed  from  Mr.  Isherwood's 
drawings 146 

Centripetal  propeller 148 

Centripetal  propeller  with  compound  expanding 
pitch 153 

The  Office  of  the  Coast  Survey  an  example  of  what 
the  Bureau  of  Steam-engineering  should  be  .  159 

The  engineer-in-chief  of  the  navy  a  grand  admiral     160 

Constructions  owght  not  to  be  made  in  the  Navy 
Department 161 

The  Office  of  the  Coast  Survey  and  the  Light- 
House  Board  naturally  belong  to  the  navy  .  162 


TO  THE 

CHAIRMAN  OF  THE  COMMITTEE 

OF 

NAVAL  AFFAIES,  U.  S.  CONGRESS, 
WASHINGTON,  D.  C. 

SIR  :  The  object  of  this  paper  is  to  invite  the 
attention  of  your  Committee,  and  of  Congress, 
to  a  subject  of  general  interest  to  the  country, 
and  one  of  particularly  great  importance  to  the 
power  and  prosperity  of  its  navy. 

The  subject  is  that  of  establishing  a  Technolo- 
gical Academy  for  Naval  Engineers,  and  for  the 
promotion  of  sciences  bearing  on  the  immediate 
necessities  of  the  country  in  that  Department. 
Should  it  receive  your  Committee's  attention 
and  approbation,  and  should  you  consider  it 
worthy  of  being  submitted  to  Congress,  the 
undersigned  is  willing  to  suggest  the  requisite 
plans  and  method  for  its  organization. 
I  have  the  honor  to  remain, 

Your  obedient  servant, 
JOHN  W.  NYSTROM, 

Engineer. 
MARKOE  HOUSE, 
PHILADELPHIA,  Dec.  21,  1863. 


ON 


TECHNOLOGICAL   EDUCATION. 


THE  immense  natural  resources  of  the  New 
World  are  confided  to  the  hands  of  an  enter- 
prising, ingenious,  and  happy  people;  yet  their 
time,  their  money,  their  life,  and  their  credit, 
in  imitation  of  the  Old  World,  are  lavishly 
wasted,  through  a  deficient  knowledge  of  those 
physical  laws  which  constitute  the  most  essen- 
tial element  of  all  human  enterprise.  Under 
this  impression  the  writer  has  striven,  by  means 
of  various  scientific  articles  on  these  subjects, 
to  enforce  the  necessity  of  enlarged  reform, 
both  in  the  study  and  the  application  of  these 
laws,  which  he  modestly  hopes  may  have  some 
good  effect. 

The  efforts  of  a  single  individual,  however, 
when  elevated  to  subjects  of  such  magnitude, 
only  result  in  perpetual  and  unprofitable 
struggles  with  organized  interests  and  preju- 
dices, and  fail  of  their  purpose  through  the 
2 


14  TECHNOLOGICAL  EDUCATION 

misconceptions  which  are  inseparable  from  new 
and  original  subjects.  From  its  novelty  alone, 
a  new  and  valuable  idea  is  frequently  con- 
demned on  bare  supposition,  and  the  writer  has 
thus  labored  in  vain,  under  the  greatest  disad- 
vantages (accompanied  with  great  expense),  to 
rescue  the  proposition  which  he  is  now  about 
to  submit  to  your  committee,  from  that  neglect 
to  which,  for  many  years,  it  has  been  doomed 
by  the  indifference  or  imperfect  appreciation 
of  those  around  him. 

Up  to  the  present  day,  the  knowledge  of 
steam  engineering,  in  which  we  take  so  much 
pride,  and  which  constitutes  a  most  essential 
part  of  our  national  existence,  is  far  behind  our 
general  knowledge  of  science.  Our  marine 
engines  and  boilers  are  not  only  unnecessarily 
complicated,  but  prodigally  extravagant  in 
their  consumption  of  fuel;  whilst  not  unfre- 
quently  new  machinery  fails  to  accomplish  ex- 
pected results  from  the  want  of  knowledge  of 
the  physical  laws  bearing  on  the  problem. 

Only  a  few  years  ago  there  was  not  a  single 
"  steam  propeller"  in  the  United  States  with 
properly  constructed  air-pumps  and  foot-valves. 
Some  of  the  propellers  designed  to  go  to  Eu- 
rope succeeded  in  making  one  passage,  whilst 
others  broke  down  at  but  a  short  distance  from 


AND  SHIPBUILDING.  15 

the  shore,  and  returned  ;  most  of  them  existed 
but  a  short  time,  and  involved  the  loss  of  mil- 
lions of  dollars  to  the  country,  to  say  nothing 
of  the  effect  upon  its  scientific  and  mechanical 
reputation.  Enterprising  merchants,  who  at- 
tempted to  establish  lines  of  steamers  to  Europe, 
became  discouraged,  and  perhaps  ruined  by 
their  failure,  and  the  result  now  is  that  we 
have  not  a  single  steamer  in  the  European 
trade.  A  few  names  of  steamers  may  be  re- 
ferred to  in  verification  of  these  remarks — 
namely,  the  frigate  San  Jacinto,  which  broke 
down  through  disarrangement  of -her  air-pumps 
and  foot- valves;  the  La  Fayette  also  (whose 
machinery  contained,  perhaps,  the  worst  air- 
pumps  ever  constructed);  the  City  of  Petersburg ; 
Ben  Franklin;  and  the  Frigate  Merrimac,  which 
suffered  from  the  breaking  down  of  her  foot- 
valves  on  her  passage  from  America  to  Eng- 
land, in  1856,  and  which  had  to  be  improved 
in  England.  In  addition  to  these,  a  great  many 
other  first-class  American  steamers  experienced 
the  same  fate  for  want  of  applied physieal  science. 
When  the  writer  became  acquainted  with 
these  defects,  he  attempted  to  correct  them  by 
explaining  the  physical  laws  in  operation, 
which,  at  the  time,  was  only  received  with 
ridicule,  and  derided  as  theoretical.  He  then 


16  TECHNOLOGICAL  EDUCATION 

worked  out  practical  'formulas,  which  were 
published  in  the  Journal  of  the  Franklin  Insti- 
tute, of  Philadelphia,  and  in  his  "Pocket-Book 
of  Engineering,"  giving  a  solution  of  the  prin- 
ciples under  which  the  air  pump  and  foot  valves 
operate,  after  which  many  errors  were  cor- 
rected ;  but  up  to  the  present  day  there  is  no 
other  publication  on  the  subject.  That  publica- 
tion has  been  copied  and  republished  in  Europe. 

Blunders  of  this  kind  are  still  going  on,  by 
means  of  which  millions  of  dollars  are  wasted, 
and  our  national  reputation  impaired  from  this 
general  want  of  applied  physical  science. 

The  physical  laws  connected  with  the  opera- 
tion of  fresh  water  or  surface  condensers,  with 
the  combustion  of  fuel,  with  the  nature  and 
properties  of  steam;  with  the  dynamic  equiva- 
lent, the  conducting  economy,  and  other  pro- 
perties of  heat,  are  yet  but  partly  known,  and 
that  by  but  a  few  scientific  men  in  the  world ; 
and  in  no  case  are  they  worked  out  to  a  prac- 
tical shape,  with  formulas  intelligible  to  the 
engineers  in  the  shop. 

We  find  by  science  that  the  theoretical  effect 
of  one  pound  of  pure  carbon  consumed  per 
hour,  is  over  Jive  horses,  whilst  in  our  present 
practice  it  requires  several  pounds  of  coal  per 
hour  for  each  horse  power. 


AND  SHIPBUILDING.  17 

Fresh  water  condensers  have  always  given 
trouble  ;  the  combustion  of  fuel  requires  most 
earnest  attention,  not  so  much  for  the  cost  of 
fuel,  as  to  enable  us  to  navigate  long  distances 
with  great  speed,  and  with  something  more  on 
board  than  boilers,  machinery,  and  fuel.  The 
Navy  Department  is  now  having  steamers  built 
intended  for  great  speed,  the  arrangements  of 
which  plainly  show  a  want  of  proper  knowledge 
in  steamship  performance. 

The  knowledge  of  steamship  performance  is 
yet  at  a  very  low  point,  and  for  want  of  it  no 
accurate  record  can  be  kept,  by  which  to  com- 
pare the  true  quality  of  performance  of  one 
steamer  with  that  of  another ;  or  to  determine 
what  will  be  the  performance  of  a  steamer  con- 
structed according  to  given  data. 

Ingenious  contrivances  in  machinery  and 
steamers,  with  plausible  promises  of  high  speed 
(up  to  twenty  and  thirty  miles  per  hour),  are 
frequently  met  with,  whose  plans,  sometimes 
confidently  accepted,  often  result  in  complete 
failure  and  disappointment,  which  properly 
applied  science  would  have  avoided.  The  truth 
of  this  observation  will  probably  be  realized 
by  a  wild  scheme  now  before  the  City  Councils 
of  Philadelphia,  proposing  a  line  of  steamers  to 
Europe,  which  has  for  several  years  remained 
2* 


18  TECHNOLOGICAL  EDUCATION 

in  a  nebulous  condition,  unsupported  by  tbat 
scientific  reasoning  by  which  alone  any  one 
could  be  rendered  confident  of  the  result. 

Some  twelve  years  ago,  the  writer  was  com- 
piling a  Pocket-Book  of  Mechanics  and  En- 
gineering (since  published  in  repeated  editions); 
he  analyzed  many  previously  published  data, 
and,  with  the  aid  of  his  own  experience,  re- 
duced the  law  of  steamship  performance  to  a 
practical  rule  to  work  by.  In  one  of  the  most 
respectable  journals  of  the  country  were  found 
some  plausible  data  on  steamship  performance, 
which  threw  the  writer  into  the  utmost  confu- 
sion, and  in  their  solution  involved  him  in 
great  expense  of  travel  and  practical  investiga- 
tion, only  to  find  them  bold  exaggerations. 

The  Navy  Department  have  made  very  ex- 
tensive experiments  on  the  expansion  of  steam, 
which  were  commenced  in  New  York  some 
four  years  ago.  The  well-known  Erie  expan- 
sion experiments,  the  Washington  Navy  Yard 
and  Old  Point  boat  experiments,  and  the  ex- 
pansion experiments  made  lately  at  the  Novelty 
Iron  Works,  N.  Y.,  were  all  carried  on  in  the 
apparent  attempt  to  overthrow  natural  laws, 
and  establish  physical  by-laws.  The  engineers 
are  manifestly  not  familiar  with  the  scientific 
principles  which  belong  to  the  question. 


AND  SHIPBUILDING.  19 

The  natural  effect  in  a  given  quantity  of 
steam,  of  given  temperature  and  pressure,  is  as 
specific  as  the  natural  effect  in  a  waterfall.  We 
have  only  to  strive,  by  improvements  in  the 
arrangement  of  our  steam-engines  and  boilers, 
to  utilize  the  greatest  possible  percentage  of 
that  natural  effect,  as  is  done  by  water  wheels 
and  turbines.  If  the  Navy  Department  find 
no  utility  in  the  expansion  of  steam,  it  only 
exposes  its  position  in  the  science  of  steam  en- 
gineering, which  can  be  no  indication  of  what 
may  be  done  by  other  parties. 

Steam-engines,  like  water-wheels  and  tur- 
bines, utilize  widely  different  percentages  of 
the  natural  effect,  even  with  equal  grade  of 
expansion,  which  may  be  seen  in  the  results  of 
the  different  experiments  made  on  different 
engines  by  the  Navy  Department.  The  result 
of  each  experiment  is  applicable  only  to  that 
peculiar  arrangement  of  the  engine  and  boiler 
experimented  upon,  and  no  more. 

The  maximum  or  natural  work  K,  per  unit 
of  heat  in  steam,  is  in  footpounds. 

8 

144  P  ( V—  1)  (2-3  log.  —  +  1)* 
JT  = ; l    ' 

U'V 

*  See  Nystrom's  Pocket-Book,  10th  edition,  for  the  value 
of  these  quantities. 


20  TECHNOLOGICAL  EDUCATION 

P  =  total  steam  pressure  per  square  inch. 

H'  =  units  of  heat  per  cubic  foot  of  the 
steam  P. 

V  =  volume  of  the  steam  compared  with 
water. 

S  =  stroke  of  steam-piston,  in  inches. 

Z  ==  part  of  the  stroke  under  which  steam  is 
fully  admitted,  in  inches. 

The  natural  effect  of  the  heat  in  the  steam 
in  horse-power,  will  be — 

_  NK 

550  f 

N  =  total  number  of  units  of  heat  passed 
through  the  steam-engine  in  the  time  T  in 
seconds.  The  more  of  this  natural  effect  that 
can  be  utilized,  the  more  perfect  is  the  steam- 
engine.  It  is  time  to  speak  about  steam-engines 
as  we  do  about  water-wheels  and  turbines — 
namely,  "  how  many  per  cent,  it  utilizes  of  the 
natural  effect." 

On  the  writer's  last  arrival  from  Europe, 
Dec.  1860,  he  found  the  anti-expansion  question 
receiving  considerable  attention  by  engineers. 
He  published,  in  a  scientific  journal,  some  de- 
monstrations to  prove  the  folly  of  the  Erie  ex- 
pansion experiments;  and,  although  ridiculed 
in  a  New  York  paper,  they  produced  good 


AND  SHIPBUILDING.  21 

effect.  Again,  he  published  in  his  Pocket-Book 
tables  for  expansion  of  steam  (hitherto  the  most 
complete  in  print),  and  its  connection  with 
superheated  steam,  which  also  had  a  great 
effect,  as  subsequent  experiments  resulted  in 
their  favor. 

The  Navy  Department  is  here  alluded  to 
because  their  blunders  are  more  perfectly  ex- 
posed to  view,  and  therefore  better  known,  but 
the  evil  is  none  the  less  serious  in  private  en- 
terprises. 

The  writer  is  in  possession  of  'knowledge 
which  would  greatly  contribute  to  clear  up 
these  difficulties,  and  advance  the  character  of 
our  steam  engineering,  but  he  cannot  undertake 
the  great  expense  of  bringing  it  before  the 
public,  inasmuch  as  scientific  knowledge  is  not 
sufficiently  diffused  among  our  mechanics  and 
engineers  to  render  such  a  work  self-sustaining. 
In  proof  of  which  he  would  remark  that  pub- 
lishers are  not  willing  even  to  get  up  such  ex- 
pensive books  as  his  "Pocket-Book  of  Mechanics 
and  Engineering,"  of  which  copies  are  sent 
herewith. 

The  manuscript  of  this  book  was  submitted 
to  publishers  in  the  year  1853,  some  of  whom 
had  it  examined  by  scientific  and  practical  men, 
who  condemned  it  as  useless,  and  unfit  for 


22  TECHNOLOGICAL  EDUCATION 

publication.  Some  publishers  objected  to  the 
great  expense  in  bringing  it  out,  whereupon  it 
was  carried  through  at  the  author's  own  ex- 
pense, which  has  now  amounted  to  a  consider- 
able sum.  xThe  small  profit  realized  is  not  suf- 
ficient for  the  expense  of  experiments  and  in- 
vestigation attending  each  succeeding  edition. 

I  take  it  for  granted  that,  in  a  matter  so  im- 
portant to  the  profession  and  the  country,  many 
others,  much  more  highly  qualified  by  their 
abilities  and  attainments  than  myself,  would 
cheerfully  do-operate  in  the  efforts  to  further 
the  main  purpose  here  foreshadowed,  if  an  or- 
ganized shape  could  only  be  given  to  it,  or  a 
nucleus  of  some  kind  formed  upon  which  their 
efforts  would  be  concentrated;  and  in  view  of 
the  great  expense  attending  it,  I  consider  it 
necessary,  in  due  regard  to  the  interests  of  the 
engineering  profession,  to  lay  the  matter  before 
your  committee,  trusting  that  it  may  receive 
due  consideration,  and  that,  possibly,  means 
may  be  appropriated  for  that  purpose. 

The  labor  attending  the  investigation  of  new 
and  original  subjects  is  immense;  particularly 
in  exploring  unknown  regions  of  science,  and 
bringing  the  products  home  to  simple  formulas 
and  tables  of  a  practical  shape.  There  does 
not,  at  present,  appear  to  be  any  one  among  us 


AND  SHIPBUILDING.  23 

who  is  willing  or  able,  perhaps  for  want  of 
time,  to  undertake  such  a  laborious  task,  and 
very  few  know  what  is  wanted,  but  too  many 
suppose  we  have  attained  perfection. 

We  have  plenty  of  scientific  books,  mostly 
written  by  professors  in  colleges,  having  very 
little  or  no  opportunity  to  apply  their  know- 
ledge in  practice,  and  which  are,  therefore,  des- 
titute of  practical  examples. 

We  frequently  find  most  valuable  formulas 
given  by  scientific  men  in  such  a  shape  that  it 
requires  to  know  more  than  the  author  in  order 
to  employ  them;  they  are  not  only  not  trimmed 
to  a  practical  shape,  but  even  the  meaning  of 
letters  is  rarely  explained  in  a  technical  lan- 
guage. 

It  is  surprising  to  see  how  successfully  ma- 
thematicians have  contrived  to  keep  the  simple 
science  of  the  "calculus"  such  a  perfect  mystery. 
It  reaches  very  few  among  us,  not  from  diffi- 
culty in  learning  it,  but  simply  for  want  of  its 
judicious  application  in  practice.  We  find 
books  on  the  calculus  of  several  hundred  pages 
without  a  single  practical  example,  which  makes 
the  science  difficult  and  tedious  of  acquisition, 
and  when  acquired,  very  rarely  further  deve- 
loped, but  is  stored  away  in  the  mind  so  that 
it  cannot  be  found  when  wanted.  We  find 


24  TECHNOLOGICAL  EDUCATION 

simple  formulas  occupying  several  pages  in 
explanation,  which,  by  a  solitary  example  ap- 
plied to  practice,  would  imprint  it  indelibly 
upon  the  student's  memory.  All  this  can  be 
effectually  corrected  and  improved  by  the  es- 
tablishment of  proper  institutions  for  the  in- 
struction of  combined  theory  and  practice. 

There  is  now  a  very  distinct  line  drawn 
between  scientific  and  practical  men ;  the  more 
we  study  and  cultivate  the  branches  sepa- 
rately, the  more  distinct  will  this  line  become, 
and  the  less  will  they  understand  one  another, 
and  may  ultimately  fall  into  irreconcilable  es- 
trangement. The  prejudice  against  science  is, 
in  our  day,  a  very  serious  evil. 

Science  is  almost  despised  by  many  practical 
men,  not  always  for  want  of  valuation  of  it, 
but  often  because  they  do  not  understand  it. 
A  blind  man  can  walk  on  roads  and  streets, 
but  when  he  finds  an  obstacle  must  stop ;  at  a 
ditch  he  may  tumble  down  into  it,  he  cannot 
turn  from  his  accustomed  track.  Such  is  the 
case  with  many  practical  and  otherwise  most 
valuable  men  working  without  a  knowledge  of 
physical  laws.  In  order  to  follow  up  the  im- 
provements of  the  age,  the  track  pursued  by 
our  fathers  must  often  be  abandoned,  and  a 
new  one  selected  and  surveyed  for  ourselves. 


AND  SHIPBUILDING.  25 

Without  the  application  of  science  we  go 
ahead  without  knowing  where  we  are  going. 
In  verification  of  which  we  have  plenty  of  ex- 
amples in  engineering  blunders,  sometimes 
subjected  to  a  committee  of  inquiry,  which 
may  result  in  the  discharge  of  the  engineer, 
accompanied  by  extravagant  abuse  of  the  de- 
partment concerned,  and  the  evil  only  tempo- 
rarily remedied  by  substituting  another,  who 
will  most  likely  not  repeat  the  same  blunders, 
but  will  do  something  worse.  There  is  yet  no 
attempt  made  to  permanently  remove  these 
evils  and  secure  success  in  our  enterprises 
by  proper  institutions.  This  your  committee 
will  admit  to  be  true,  but  may  ask  "  how  can 
the  evil  be  removed  and  permanently  cor- 
rected ?" 

America  has  taken  the  lead  of  the  world  in 
popular  education.  Its  institutions  are  copied 
and  imitated  in  Europe,  but  it  remains  for  us 
to  follow  up  and  take  the  lead  in*  the  nobler 
and  purer  refinements  of  our  nature.  We  have 
the  best  materials  in  the  world  by  which  to 
accomplish  this  object,  the  question  is  only  as 
to  the  time  and  the  means  to  be  taken. 

We  are  a  new  people;  our  habits  and  cir- 
cumstances are  different  from  those  of  other 
3 


26  TECHNOLOGICAL  EDUCATION 

nations,  and  our  institutions  must  be  organized 
accordingly. 

In  Europe  they  have  institutions  for  the  dif- 
fusion of  combined  theoretical  and  practical 
learning,  the  want  of  which  is  most  severely 
felt  in  this  country.  Institutions  of  that  kind 
are  of  more  importance  in  America  than  else- 
where, for  the  reason  that  mechanical  skill  and 
inventive  ingenuity  are  here  more  extensively 
developed,  and  the  want  of  applied  science 
wastes  away  a  proportionate  quantity  of  time 
and  money. 

It  is  very  evident  that  we  are  behind  some 
other  nations  in  science,  and,  at  the  same  time* 
it  is  certain  that  we  have  more  science  than  we 
can  properly  manage  or  utilize.  It  is  the  ap- 
plication of  science  to  practice  which  requires  im- 
mediate attention  and  special  institutions. 

It  is  very  gratifying  to  know  that  Congress, 
at  its  last  session,  passed  a  bill  to  establish  a 
National  Academy  of  Science,  which  will  no  doubt 
be  of  great  value;  but  how  can  it  be  brought 
to  bear  advantageously  on  the  general  interest 
and  immediate  wants  of  the  country. 

Considering  the  peculiar  circumstances  in 
which'  the  country  is  now  placed  (the  natural 
fruit  of  time  and  civilization),  technological 
institutions  are  absolutely  necessary  to  enable 


AND  SHIPBUILDING.  27 

us  to  rise  gradually  and  surely  to  the  position 
due  to  us  among  nations,  and  when  once  so 
raised,  we  would  never  fall,  but  become  able  to 
maintain  with  true  dignity  a  National  Academy 
of  Science. 

Technological  institutions  will  reveal  and 
develop  the  talent  and  ability  of  the  nation, 
and  bring  its  immense  natural  resources  to  ac- 
count. It  is  technological  institutions  which 
alone  furnish  proper  materials  for  a  National 
Academy  of  Science.  We  have  now  among  us 
many  Newtons,  Keplers,  Berzelius's,  Watts's, 
Fultons,  &c.  &c.,  but  have  no  means  of  bring- 
ing them  out ;  but,  on  the  contrary,  plenty  of 
ingenious  contrivances  to  screen  them  from 
observation.  They  are  not  willing  to  enter  into 
competition  with  our  everyday  rivals,  while 
our  national  leaders,  in  their  most  earnest  ex- 
ertion to  find  the  right  man  for  the  right  place, 
are  continually  imposed  upon.  This  evil  can- 
not be  removed  by  the  peculiar  liberty  alone, 
in  which  we  take  so  much  pride,  but  simply 
by  a  diffusion  of  useful  knowledge  through  es- 
tablished institutions,  which  should  constitute 
the  true  object  of  our  national  pride. 

At  the  present  time,  scientific  attainments 
and  true  practical  knowledge  are  very  little 
respected ;  physical  laws,  established  by  the 


28  TECHNOLOGICAL  EDUCATION 

Creator  of  the  universe,  are  often  derided  as 
theoretical ;  ignorance  has  taken  the  lead,  and 
rules  in  the  ascendant,  and  often  adopts  that 
which  is  opposite  alike  to  science,  experience, 
and  common  sense. 

The  object  of  this  paper,  therefore,  is  to  pro- 
pose the  establishment  of  a  National  Technolo- 
gical Academy  of  a  high  order,  whose  purpose 
should  be,  by  the  combination  of  practical 
and  theoretical  instruction,  to  subserve  a  great 
public  want,  and  at  the  same  time  to  inaugu- 
rate a  new  era  in  the  scientific  and  practical 
reputation  of  the  American  people. 

An  institution  of  that  kind  cannot  be  a  pri- 
vate enterprise,  for  in  order  to  command  the 
respect  necessary  to  its  existence  and  high 
purpose,  it  must  be  a  public  institution. 

The  Writer  has  been  educated  at  the  Royal 
Technological  Institute,  at  Stockholm,  where 
they  have  a  complete  set  of  workshops  and  labo- 
ratory, for  the  practical  training  of  students  be- 
tween lecture  hours.  It  is  not  expected,  neither 
is  it  necessary  that  the  student  shall  become  an 
accomplished  mechanic,  but  the-  object  is  to 
concentrate  his  mind  on  the  work"  about  which 
he  is  studying  and  calculating.  When  confined 
only  to  books  and  blackboards,  his  conceptions 
rarely  extend  any  further.  He  acquires  the 


AND  SHIPBUILDING.  29 

knowledge  by  routine,  as  it  were ;  the  study 
becomes  tedious  to  him,  and  when  brought  to 
bear  on  practice,  the  most  simple  problem  may 
confound  him.  When  a  student  is  brought  up 
in  the  combined  science  and  practice,  however, 
he  generally  acquires  a  taste  for  work — good 
workmanship  and  proper  proportions — and  the 
application  of  his  science  becomes  a  pleasure. 
He  studies  mathematics  at  the  same  time  he 
learns  drawing;  physics  and  mechanics  at  the 
same  time  he  makes  his  tools  and  models  for 
machinery.  His  science  is  applied  as  fast  as  it 
is  acquired,  and  he  will  never  forget  it.  When 
a  student  is  thus  equipped  for  his  journey  of 
life,  he  is  able  to  bring  such  physical  laws  into 
action  as  to  secure  success  in  all  his  enterprises. 
He  will  be  able  to  record  and  report  back  to 
the  institute  his  future  experience,  by  which 
the  most  thorough  connection  may  be  kept  up, 
between  science  and  practice. 

As  things  rfbw  stand,  a  man  of  most  valuable 
information  is  not  thus  able  to  record  his 
achievements ;  in  fact,  he  may  not  know  him- 
self the  very  laws  of  his  success;  his  experience 
and  valuable  knowledge  die  with  him ;  his 
toiling  successor  will  reiterate  his  blunders, 
and  gain  new  experience  by  a  new  series  of 
expensive  trials  and  error. 


30  TECHNOLOGICAL  EDUCATION 

Steam-engineering  and  ship-building  are  arts 
in  which  we  take  the  greatest  pride ;  still  there 
is  no  institution  in  the  country  where  we  learn 
to  construct  a  steamer  completely,  or  acquire 
the  physical  laws  under  which  it  operates. 
Ship-building  and  steam-engineering  are  yet 
considered  different  professions,  while  they  are 
so  intimately  connected  in  steamboats  that  it 
would  be  impossible  to  trace  a  line  of  separa- 
tion between  them.  The  shipbuilder  cannot 
properly  construct  a  steamer  without  the  know- 
ledge of  the  machinery,  neither  can  the  engineer 
construct  the  machinery  without  a  knowledge 
of  the  vessel ;  yet  we  rarely  find  one  who  can 
undertake  both,  and  the  result  is  a  discord  of 
action.  They  do  not  please  one  another,  and 
neither  of  them  takes  that  care  in  the  whole 
arrangement  which  one  controlling  mind  would 
do.  In  iron  shipbuilding  the  two  branches  are 
more  generally  brought  under  one  mind. 

We  rarely  find  a  superintendent  or  proprietor 
in  a  machine  shop  or  shipyard,  even  in  our 
navy  yards,  who  can  master  an  algebraical 
formula,  or  who  is  in  possession  of  the  rudi- 
ments of  the  science  bearing  on  his  profession. 
We  have  no  school  where  we  learn  to  make  a 
proper  working  drawing,  but  students  are 
taught  to  color  drawings  before  they  know  how 


AND  SHIPBUILDING.  31 

to  construct  a  shadow ;  the  surface  of  every- 
thing is  learned,  and  the  substance  obscured. 
We  never  find  a  complete  working  drawing  of 
a  steamer  when  its  building  is  commenced !  In 
some  cases,  and  even  in  the  navy  yards,  the 
drawing  is  'made  after  the  steamer  is  finished,  when 
an  extra  bill  for  alterations  and  experiments 
augments  the  originally  intended  cost  to  an 
unsatisfactory' sum,  and  often  results  in  a  com- 
plicated arrangement  of  machinery,  with  don- 
kies,  fans,  pumps,  cocks,  and  pipes  placed  about 
the  vessel,  here  and  there,  like  scattered  stumps 
and  logs  in  a  forest,  and  requires  a  more  skilful 
engineer  to  keep  it  in  order  than  the  one  who 
contrived  it.  In  fact,  ingenuity  seems  to  sur- 
mount any  obstacle  that  could  possibly  be  en- 
countered, for,  in  many  cases,  it  shows  no  dis- 
position whatever  to  prevent  or  avoid  the  diffi- 
culty by  application  of  proper  principles  at  the 
outset ;  but  a  machine,  on  the  contrary,  is  in- 
vented by  which  to  overcome  the  obstacle,  and 
the  aggregate  contrivance  is  denominated 
"practical." 

In  verification  of  this,  we  have  many  exam- 
ples in  the  navy,  but  I  will  here  refer  to  a  new- 
iron  steamer,  built  for  the  merchant  service, 
whose  machinery  is  one  of  those  ingenious 
contrivances  we  frequently  meet  with ;  the 


32  TECHNOLOGICAL  EDUCATION 

slide  valves  alone,  for  only  one  cylinder,  are 
operated  by  twenty  connecting  rods  and  forty 
journals,  occupying  a  height  of  some  thirty-five 
feet  in  the  vessel,  and  even  then  the  engine 
cannot  be  reversed  without  throwing  the  ma- 
chinery out  of  gear,  and  reversing  it  by  hand. 

We  must,  in  all  ages  and  in  all  countries, 
expect  active  and  operative  minds  to  come  for- 
ward with  ingenious  contrivances,  sometimes 
with  wild  ideas,  ridiculous  in  design,  and  wrong 
in  mechanical  principles;  but  then  it  is  the 
function  of  science  and  knowledge  to  step  in 
and  correct  their  aberration,  or,  if  necessary,  to 
guard  against  or  prevent  their  further  intro- 
duction until  developed  to  an  educated  design, 
which  otherwise  might  lead  to  destruction  of 
life  and  property.  ^ 

On  the  other  hand,  most  ingenious  and  valu- 
able ideas  are  sometimes  submitted  to  the 
opinion  of  scientific  men  with  no  practical 
knowledge,  who  may  condemn  them  from  an 
imperfect  perception  of  their  merit.  It  is  only 
a  knowledge  of  the  combined  theory  and  prac- 
tice that  can  accomplish  justice  in  all  cases. 

The  great  prospect  now  opening  before  us 
in  the  present  new  era  of  naval  architecture, 
as  connected  with  the  new  national  navy  yard 
(to  be  established  at  League  Island,  we  hope), 


AND  SHIPBUILDING.  33 

will  necessarily,  at  some  time,  concentrate  our 
serious  attention  upon  the  establishment  of 
proper  institutions,  and  a  systematic  corps  of 
naval  engineers ;  but  when,  will  this  necessity 
become  recognized,  and  the  proper  policy  be 
pursued  ?  Can  it  be  accomplished  by  the  efforts 
of  conciliatory  reasoning,  or  must  it  be  forced 
upon  us  by  the  suffering  and  losses  consequent 
upon  engineering  blunders,  in  which  our  pre- 
sent experience  does  not  seem  sufficient  to 
bring  us  to  the  point? 

The  science  of  war  has  been  taught  by  dis- 
asters, and  has  been  gradually  advanced  by  the 
force  of  proper  institutions,  and  thorough  dis- 
cipline to  its  present  perfection. 

The  navy  has  lately  undergone  a  great  and 
very  important  change,  and  is  converted  into  an 
entirely  new  school,  by  the  introduction  of 
steam  and  armored  vessels,  which  change  has 
already  reduced  considerably  the  number  and 
length  of  the  ropes  in  the  old  school.  America 
has  taken  the  lead  in  this  new  direction,  and  is 
the  first  nation  on  the  globe  which  has  brought 
the  new  naval  school  to  the  severest  test,  and 
demonstrated  the  necessity  of  a  corresponding 
system  of  education.  The  old  school  is  now 
proved  to  be  incapable  of  conducting  our  new 
naval  tactics. 


34:  TECHNOLOGICAL  EDUCATION 

In  the  army  there  has  been  no  such  sudden 
change,  but  the  old  school  has  been  gradually 
improved  to  its  present  condition  by  the  instru- 
mentality of  a  properly  organized  corps  of  en- 
gineers, raised  from  the  school-trenches  to  the 
highest  accomplishment,  and  to  the  elevated 
rank  which  is  due  to  their  profession. 

The  works  in  the  Departments  of  Ordnance, 
Fortification,  and  the  Coast  Survey,  are  of  the 
highest  order  of  science  brought  to  a  practical 
shape,  unequalled  in  Europe. 

Now  let  us  ask,  on  the  other  hand,  what,  in 
like  manner,  the  navy  has  done?  Or  what  is 
to  be  expected  from  a  department  not  educated 
in  the  lights  and  principles  of  the  new  school? 
The  Naval  Engineer  Corps,  which  ought  to  be 
the  soul  of  the  navy,  is  yet  a  mere  tool  to  the 
old  school,  and  destitute  of  proper  organization, 
and  with  but  a  nominal  discipline,  for  true  dis- 
cipline is  out  of  the  question  where  the  superior 
officers  are  disciples  of  an  obsolete  school. 

Our  new  naval  warfare  is  an  engineering 
operation  which  requires  special  education  and 
a  well-organized  corps  of  engineers,  with  the 
distinguishing  rank  due  to  that  office.  The 
efficiency  .of  the  navy  is  at  the  mercy  of  the 
engineers,  and  cannot  possibly  be  maintained 
without  due  respect  to  that  body. 


AND  SHIPBUILDING.  35 

As  it  now  stands  the  naval  engineer,  although 
in  a  restricted  insignificant  position,  can  manage 
and  manipulate  the  old  school  to  suit  his  own 
personal  interest  and  convenience.  He  has 
none  above  him  to  fear.  His  superior  officers 
must  trust  his  words  oracularly,  of  which  we 
have  plenty  of  examples  in  the  navy.  An  en- 
gineer can  argue  that  he  has  based  his  opera- 
tion on  physical  laws  discovered  by  himself, 
without  being  requested  to  explain  such  laws. 
Could  that  be  so  if  education  had  done  her 
proper  work?  or  can  we  find  such  a  case  in  the 
Departments  of  Ordnance,  Fortification,  or  in 
the  Coast  Survey? 

The  country  abounds  in  engineering  talent, 
of  which  there  is  plenty  in  the  navy,  but  it  is 
very  rarely  much  developed,  and  still  less  no- 
ticed. It  would  be  surprising  were  it  other- 
wise. The  old  naval  school  is  not  qualified  to 
select  or  appreciate  the  engineer  of  ability; 
but,  even  if  noticed,  he  is  necessarily  doomed 
to  an  insignificant  rank  and  a  discouraging 
career.  We  have  the  result  now  before  us — 
the  rebel  pirate  Alabama  and  others  sweeping 
our  vessels  from  the  seas;  the  numerous  block- 
ade-runners can  make  regular  trips  in  the  midst 
of  our  boasting  navy,  on  which  we  have  spent 
hundreds  of  millions  of  dollars. 


36  TECHNOLOGICAL  EDUCATION 

We  admit  that  the  naval  operations  are  more 
difficult,  and  require  manifold  more  science  and 
talent  than  those  of  the  army,  but,  in  conse- 
quence, they  require  a  corresponding  culture 
in  the  officers  in  charge  to  enable  them  to 
bring  such  physical  laws  into  action,  as  are 
involved  in  the  success.  This  can  be  attained 
only  by  adequate  institutions  for  their  educa- 
tion in  the  magnificent  combination  of  our  new 
naval  school,  which  can  only  be  properly  esti- 
mated by  being  perfectly  understood.  Having 
now  taken  the  lead  of  the  world  in  naval  war- 
fare, and  being  unable  to  derive  from  foreign 
sources,  either  by  precept  or  example,  the 
means  of  giving  a  proper  organization  to  the 
navy,  we  must  follow  up  and  avail  ourselves 
of  our  own  hard  earned  experience  for  this 
purpose. 

In  our  yet  very  feeble  conception  of  the  im- 
portance and  of  the  range  of  knowledge  in 
steam-engineering,  it  may  be  suggested  that  an 
apartment  in  the  old  Naval  Academy,  to  be  al- 
lotted to  steam,  would,  perhaps,  be  sufficient 
for  a  school  of  engineers.  But  then  let  us  re- 
flect for  a  moment  on  the  immense  spectacle 
now  before  us,  of  our  growing  fleet  of  ironclads 
and  colossal  navy  yards,  entailing  such  an  un- 
bounded expense,  and  all  of  the  great  interests 


AND  SHIPBUILDING.  87 

thus  involved  and  confided  with  our  national 
reputation  to  the  hands  of  the  engineers,  and 
we  must  perceive  that  the  latter  must  not  only 
be  equipped  with  proper  knowledge,  but  must 
command  all  the  respect  and  confidence  which 
naturally  attach  to  their  important  office.  It  is 
therefore  necessary  that  a  technological  school, 
designed  for  the  special  purpose,  should  be  in- 
stituted, of  the  highest  possible  order,  and  not 
limited  only  to  scientific  attainment,  but  fore- 
most in  the  general  application  of  the  sciences. 

We  have  numerous  examples  in  Europe, 
particularly  in  Eussia,  where  engineers  are 
educated  to  only  scientific  attainments,  and 
who,  when  they  enter  a  machine-shop  or  en- 
gine room,  are  incompetent  for  the  proper 
conception  of  work,  but  are,  nevertheless,  in- 
trusted with  responsible  stations  where  their 
practical  achievements  only  lead  to  mischief. 

Our  experience  throughout  life  teaches  us 
that  a  practical  man  without  science  seldom 
makes  such  serious  blunders  as  a  scientific  man 
without  practice.  The  merit  then  of  the  Techno- 
naval  Academy  would  be  in  the  education  of 
engineers  in  the  practice,  and  not  with  mere 
scientific  precepts  of  professors. 

The  writer  has  often  observed  the  career  of 
students  from  colleges,  and  regrets  to  say  that 
4 


38  TECHNOLOGICAL  EDUCATION 

too  few  of  them  turn  their  attention  to  work. 
Those  who  have  received  scientific  education 
generally  prefer  to  become  professors,  scientific 
advocates,  patent  agents,  lawyers,  philosophical 
secretaries,  &c.  &c.,  whilst  the  practical  opera- 
tion of  our  workshops  suffer  in  the  extreme. 
Every  once  in  a  while  we  have  a  steam-boiler 
explosion,  killing  off  a  great  number  of  men, 
with  great  destruction  of  property ;  we  build 
vessels  which  will  not  float;  are  often  disap- 
pointed in  the  performance  of  vessels  and  ma- 
chinery ;  we  waste  great  amounts  of  fuel,  and 
we  make  extensive  and  costly  experiments  in 
steam-engineering  without  consulting  the  phy- 
sical laws  involved  in  the  operation. 

In  iron  foundries  castings  are  often  made 
with  too  little  metal,  and  sometimes  too  much; 
the  hydrostatic  action  of  the  fluid  cast-iron  in 
the  mould  is  rarely  understood ;  the  law  of 
shrinkage,  strain,  direction  of  crystallization, 
and  sinking,  in  castings  of  irregular  form,  is 
not  generally  comprehended  ;  and  many  other 
defects  of  experience  exist  which  often  cause 
the  loss  of  valuable  castings,  for  want  of  applied 
science.  When  the  casting  turns  out  a  failure, 
it  is  generally  said  that  the  foundry  superin- 
tendent is  not  skilful,  or  has  not  experience 


AND  SHIPBUILDING.  89 

enough,  which  often  means  that  he  has  not 
made  blunders  enough  to  secure  success. 

The  general  impression  about  the  business 
of  moulding  and  casting,  as  well  as  all  other 
branches  of  mechanic  arts,  is,  as  has  been  re- 
peatedly  told  to  the  writer,  namely,  that  "  the 
profession  cannot  be  brought  within  the  scope 
of  science,  but  must  be  learned  by  experience 
alone." 

On  the  other  hand,  scientific  men  without 
technical  education,  intrusted  with  practical 
problems,  are  generally  not  familiar  with  im- 
portant circumstances  involved  in  the  opera- 
tion, which  accordingly  results  in  blunders; 
they  are  then  derided  as  "scientific  men." 

Locomotive  engineers  still  allow  their  thun- 
derbolt to  blow  out  smoke  and  fire  to  suffocate 
passengers,  and  set  fire  to  houses  and  forests, 
when  this  nuisance  of  smoke  and  sparks  could 
be  so  beneficially  utilized  in  the  work  for 
which  that  fuel  is  intended. 

The  combustion  of  fuel  and  the  utilization 
of  heat,  in  our  present  locomotives,  are  a  dis- 
graceful and  barbarous  abuse  of  physical  laws. 
The  firebox  in  a  locomotive  dissolves  many 
times  the  amount  of  fuel  realized  in  work,  and 
the  heat  there  generated  is  so  great  that  it  is 
difficult  to  find  materials  for  the  firebox  that 


40  TECHNOLOGICAL  EDUCATION. 

are  able  to  withstand  it ;  whilst  on  the  other 
end  of  the  locomotive,  there  is  applied  an  ar- 
rangement to  create  a  vacuum  by  the  exhaust 
steam  from  the  cylinders,  which,  in  fact,  is  only^ 
a  cooling  operation  which  puts  the  fire  out 
when  it  enters  the  tubes,  and  the  unconsumed 
carbon,  in  the  form  of  smoke,  with  sparks  of 
fire,  is  blown  out  through  the  chimney.  The 
area  of  the  fire-tubes  in  a  locomotive  is  many 
times  greater  than  that  of  the  firebox,  whilst 
the  evaporative  power  of  the  firebox  is  many 
times  greater  than  that  of  the  tubes. 

We  are  in  possession  of  sciences,  requisite 
for  a  more  proper  arrangement  in  a  locomotive 
and  in  steam-boilers  generally,  by  which  not 
only  all  the  carbon  could  be  consumed,  but 
also  to  utilize  the  heat  in  work,  but  we  have 
not  sufficient  technical  knowledge  for  their 
judicious  application. 

The  writer  has  now  gone  very  far  in  criti- 
cizing our  standing  as  engineers,  but  hopes  to 
be  understood  that  his  motive  in  so  doing  is  a 
solicitude  for  the  general  interest.  There  are 
too  many  among  us  to  boast  of  and  exaggerate 
our  numerous  and  real  advantages  over  other 
nations,  but  apparently  none  to  point  out  to 
us  our  deficiences. 

JOHN  W.  NYSTROM,    . 
Engineer. 


COMMUNICATION 


TO  THE 


SEORETAEY  OF  THE  KA.VY. 


NAVY  DEPARTMENT, 
WASHINGTON,  D.  C.,  June  26,  1865. 

SIR  :  On  the  14th  of  this  month  I  made  an 
application  to  the  Navy  Department  for  orders 
to  prepare,  for  the  Naval  Engineer  Cadets,  a 
"  course  of  shipbuilding"  based  on  the  "  para- 
bolic principle,"  as  explained  in  the  printed 
papers  accompanying  the  application. 

On  the  15th  I  received  your  communication 
stating  that  the  proposition  was  declined. 

This  hasty  refusal  of  the  Department  has  en- 
couraged me — with  all  deference — to  renew  the 
application  in  a  more  specific  form,  under  a 
conviction  that  I  had  probably  failed  to  submit 
the  subject  in  its  true  light ;  inasmuch  as  upon 
any  other  hypothesis,  its  intrinsic  importance 
could  scarcely  have  failed  to  have  insured  for 
it  a  different  disposition.  Indeed,  I  would  deem 
4* 


42  TECHNOLOGICAL  EDUCATION 

it  a  neglect  of  duty  on  my  part  to  drop  a  sub- 
ject of  such  great  moment,  merely  in  conse- 
quence of  a  hasty  and  apparently  inconsiderate 
reply  of  the  Department,  particularly  as  so  many 
circumstances  may  have  conspired,  amidst  a 
press  of  business,  to  prevent  its  receiving  your 
Excellency's  personal  attention. 

When  it  is  considered  not  only  that  ship- 
building has  not  yet  been  developed  to  the 
condition  of  a  true  science,  but  that  the  country 
contains  no  school  where  even  the  empirical 
system  under  which  the  construction  of  vessels 
is  now  carried  on,  can  be  learned,  we  cannot 
expect  our  present  naval  constructors  to  dip 
into  and  approve  a  science  which  they  do  not 
understand,  but  distrust  and  perhaps  fear. 

By  means  of  long  practice  and  experience, 
builders  generally  attain  great  skill  and  taste 
in  the  construction  of  ships,  but,  at  the  same 
time,  they  are  yet  ignorant  of  the  physical  laws 
and  scientific  principles  which  govern  their 
success.  Their  skill  and  valuable  knowledge 
die  with  them,  and  their  toiling  successors 
must  reiterate  the  same  blunders,  and  gain  ex- 
perience by  the  same  renewed  experiments  and 
errors. 

Such  will  not  be  the  case  when  shipbuilding 
becomes  really  a  science,  for  then  we  will  be 


AND  SHIPBUILDING.  43 

able  to  demonstrate,  record,  and  perpetuate 
through  the  unerring  aid  of  mathematical 
formulas,  a  knowledge  of  the  physical  laws 
which  relate  to  the  subject,  the  accomplishment 
of  which  is  now  impossible,  and  the  art  itself 
kept  by  shipbuilders  in  profound  mystery. 

The  indifference  or  hostility  of  shipbuilders 
to  a  scientific  treatment  of  the  subject,  arises 
mainly  from  their  conviction  that  it  is  impos- 
sible to  bring  their  profession  within  the  scope 
of  science,  and  they  persevere  in  regarding  it 
as  a  mere  craft.  In  verification  of  this,  I  can 
refer  to  numerous  examples,  of  which  the  fol- 
lowing is  one: — 

Last  summer  I  made  efforts  to  bring  the 
"  parabolic  construction  of  ships"  under  the 
appreciation  of  Mr.  John  Lenthal,  the  Chief  of 
the  Bureau  of  Construction,  which  failed  not 
only  to  secure  his  approval,  but  absolutely  met 
with  his  disparagement.  Mr.  Lenthal  was  ap- 
prised that  the  "  parabolic  system"  embodied  a 
very  simple  method  of  recording  the  peculiari- 
ties of  vessels,  which  would  be  of  great  impor- 
tance; he  refused,  however,  to  credit  the  possi- 
bility of  my  plan,  and  gave  me  to  understand 
(without  looking  at  it)  that  he  had  all  the  re- 
cords which  could  be  necessary  already,  and 
that  nothing  more  was  wanted. 


44  TECHNOLOGICAL  EDUCATION 

Soon  after,  I  was  set  to  work  by  Mr.  Isher- 
wood,  the  Chief  of  the  Bureau  of  Steam-En- 
gineering, to  calculate  from  a  great  number  of 
ships'  drawings  these  very  data,  which  were 
not,  but  which  ought  to  have  been  calculated 
and  recorded  in  the  Bureau  of  Construction, 
and  which  data  are  of  great  importance  in 
questions  of  steamship  performance.  In  fact 
the  engineer  cannot  do  well  without  them. 

This  proves  conclusively  that  the  naval  con- 
structor was  in  error  regarding  the  perfection 
of  his  records. 

There  is  not  to  my  knowledge  an  -engineer 
in  the  naval  service  who  is  competent  to  un- 
dertake such  an  investigation  of  the  properties 
of  ships  as  that  made  by  me,  although  the  sub- 
ject belongs  directly  to  his  profession.  The 
Corps  of  Naval  Engineers  should  take  the  lead 
in  all  those  progressive  changes  which  natu- 
rally attach  to  their  important  office,  and  par- 
ticularly in  those  changes  which  must  eventu- 
ally take  place,  namely,  to  combine  the  con- 
struction of  machinery  and  vessels  under  one 
head. 

Since  the  introduction  into  vessels  of  steam, 
and  other  mechanical  contrivances  which  are 
daily  increasing,  the  two  branches  have  become 
so  intimately  connected,  that  it  would  be  dim- 


AND  SHIPBUILDING.       .  45 

I 

cult  to  trace  a  line  of  separation  between  them. 
The  engineer  cannot  construct  the  machinery 
without  a  knowledge  of  the  vessel  which  is  to 
contain  it,  and  the  shipbuilder  cannot  properly 
construct  the  vessel  without  consulting  the  en- 
gineer respecting  the  machiney,  and  we  may 
expect  what  happened  when  the  war  broke  out, 
namely,  to  build  vessels  wholly  of  iron,  for 
which  our  present  naval  constructors  are  in- 
competent. 

On  account,  therefore,  of  the  profession  of 
shipbuilding  yet  being  in  an  empirical  condi- 
tion, and  considered  separate  and  apart  from 
that  of  steam-engineering,  there  exists  much 
jealousy  between  the  two  interests,  which  re- 
sults in  discord  of  action;  neither  of  them 
taking  that  careful  supervision  over  the  whole 
arrangement  which  one  controlling  mind  would 
do. 

In  many  instances  where  government's  ves- 
sels have  been  built  in  private  establishments, 
the  quality  of  workmanship  has  suffered  con- 
siderably  for  this  very  reason,  of  the  superin- 
tending naval  engineer  not  being  familiar  with 
the  construction  of  ships. 

The  failure  of  the  light-draft  monitors  affords 
a  still  stronger  proof  of  the  necessity  of  in- 
structing engineers  in  shipbuilding. 


46  TECHNOLOGICAL  EDUCATION 

f 

As  matters  now  stand,  ship  constructors  are 
generally  so  jealous  of  their  profession,  that  the 
engineer  can  with  difficulty  obtain  from  them 
the  necessary  information  to  govern  him  in  his 
own  department;  a  jealousy  which  only  indi- 
cates ignorance.  For  if  their  profession  was 
brought  to  the  rank  of  a  true  science,  it  could 
not  be  kept  in  a  state  of  mystery,  or  as  a  mat- 
ter of  individual  knowledge. 

Now,  believing  that  I  have  succeeded  in  de- 
veloping shipbuilding  to  the  condition  of  a  true 
science,  I  desire  to  throw  it  wide  open  for  the 
benefit  of  all,  like  the  books  of  Euclid. 

My  system  embodies  the  results  of  many 
years  of  labor,  now  in  the  form  of  raw  materi- 
als, to  be  converted  into  tables  and  drawings 
for  general  use. 

The  details  of  the  undertaking  are  too  great 
for  a  single  individual;  operating  alone,  it 
would  cost  me  several  years  to  complete  them, 
whilst  with  assistance  from  the  Navy  Depart- 
ment, it  might  be  accomplished  in  a  few  months. 

The  great  labor  consists  in  calculating  the 
tables,  which  will  extend  to  some  five  thousand 
lines,  the  combination  of  which  would  compre- 
hend the  construction  of  an  endless  number  of 
vessels. 

The  nature  of  the  tables  are  very  much  like 


AND  SHIPBUILDING.  47 

logarithms ;  they  will  equally  suit  any  system 
of  weights  and  measures,  or  any  language  and 
country,  and  will  give  the  characteristic  pecu- 
liarities of  vessels  at  the  first  glance,  such  as 
the  displacement;  areas  of  water-lines  and 
cross-sections;  location  of  metacentre  and  cen- 
tre of  gravity,  &c.  &c. ;  and  they  will  also  give 
the  most  important  item,  so  much  sought  for 
by  scientific  men  and  shipbuilders,  namely,  the 
mean  angle  of  resistance  of  vessels. 

The  displacement  of  a  vessel,  bounded  within 
a  given  length,  breadth,  and  depth,  can  vary 
twenty-five  per  cent.,  for  the  same  resistance,  in 
moving  through  water;  a  circumstance  show- 
ing the  immense  importance  of  giving  the  ves- 
sel a  proper  shape. 

Shipbuilders  generally,  through  long  prac- 
tice, approach  very  near  the  proper  shape  or 
form  of  lines  of  vessels,  but  they  also  often 
transgress  the  sought-for  limit,  which  cannot 
possibly  be  determined  by  mere  conjecture. 
But,  by  the  "parabolic  method,"  the  most  ad- 
vantageous forms  of  lines  are  ascertained  and 
calculated  with  the  aid  of  tables,  which  can  be 
used  by  constructors  without  a  knowledge  of 
mathematics. 

For  the  accomplishment  of  the  object  here 
proposed,  I  would  respectfully  request  your 


48  TECHNOLOGICAL  EDUCATION 

Excellency  to  select  two  or  more  young  en- 
gineers, and  place  them  at  my  disposition  for 
the  purpose  of  assisting  in  the  calculation  of 
the  tables,  and  of  acquiring  a  thorough  know- 
ledge of  the  "  parabolic  construction  of  ships." 
This  would  be  a  very  simple  and  easy  course 
of  introducing  the  science  of  shipbuilding  into 
the  Corps  of  Naval  Engineers,  and  the  Depart- 
ment will  thus  be  placed  in  possession  of  scien- 
tific resources,  which  will  forever  place  it  out 
of  reach  of  many  errors,  and  of  rash  or  igno- 
rant experiments  which  have  heretofore  wasted 
so  much  of  its  means  and  its  hopes  alike  un- 
profitably. 

The  mode  of  constructing  ships,  at  the  pre- 
sent day,  is  most  generally  accomplished  by 
carving  out  a  model  from  a  piece  of  wood,  by 
eyesight  and  conjecture — an  operation  which  is 
often  repeated  several  times  before  it  happens  to 
attain  the  desiderated  end.  In  more  advanced 
stages  of  the  art,  as  in  the  navy,  and  in  some  few 
private  establishments,  drawings  are  made,  from 
which  models  are  also  executed;  but  even  then 
the  lines  are  laid  down  repeatedly  from  con- 
jecture, until  sufficient  approximation  to  the 
truth  is  believed  to  be  attained.  In  both  cases, 
the  operation  may  be  likened  to  the  movements 
of  a  blind  man  walking  by  himself,  whilst  by 


AND  SHIPBUILDING.  49 

the  "parabolic  method,"  the  construction  is 
started  right  at  the  outset,  and  thus  an  intelli- 
gent perception  of  principles  and  results  reaches 
its  conclusion  with  mathematical  accuracy. 

In  the  interest  of  science,  as  well  as  that  of 
the  Department  over  which  your  Excellency 
has  so  successfully  presided,  I  earnestly  request 
that  my  proposition  may  be  considered  with 
the  attention  which  a  subject  of  such  importance 
deserves,  and,  in  conclusion,  would  suggest, 
that  whilst  the  government  could  lose  nothing 
by  granting  my  request,  it  would  gain  an  ad- 
vantage which,  once  possessed,  it  would  never 
afterwards  relinquish. 

I  have  the  honor  to  remain, 
Your  Excellency's  ob't  serv't, 

JOHN  W.  NYSTROM, 
Act.  Chief  Engineer,  U.  S.  Navy. 

Hon.  GIDEON  WELLES, 

Secretary  of  the  Navy. 


MEMOKAKDUM. 


NAVY  DEPARTMENT, 
WASHINGTON,  D.  C.,  July  8, 1865. 

To-DAT  I  called  on  Secretary  Welles,  about 
my  application  for  assistance  to  calculate  the 
tables  for  the  "  parabolic  construction  of  ships," 
as  expressed  in  the  foregoing  letter,  when  Mr. 
Welles  said  that  he  "could  do  nothing  with  it, 
as  Mr.  Isherwood  does  not  approve  your  scheme, 
but  says  that  there  is  no  novelty  in  it."  I 
then  requested  the  Secretary  to  respond  to  my 
letter  to  that  effect,  which  he  ordered  Assistant 
Secretary  Fox  to  do,  but  no  answer  was  re- 
ceived. 

Assistant  Secretary  Fox  told  me  that  "this 
democratic  government  does  not  take  the  lead 
in  matters  of  this  kind,  as  monarchical  govern- 
ments do,  but  leaves  them  for  the  merchant  or 
civil  service." 

I  offered  to  show  Captain  Fox  some  samples 
of  tables  for  the  "parabolic  shipbuilding,"  but 
he  said  he  "  would  have  no  time  to  attend  to  it." 


SHIPBUILDING.  51 

It  is  true  the  Navy  Department  has  not  taken 
the  lead  in  any  matter  of  progress,  but  left  that 
for  the  civil  service,  but  it  has  taken  the  lead 
and  made  extensive  and  costly  experiments  in 
the  anti-expansion  question  of  steam ;  in  the 
building  of  vessels  which  will  not  float ;  in  ex- 
perimental researches  in  steam  engineering, 
extensively  expatiated  upon  in  large  volumes 
of  books  upon  which  I  shall  make  no  com- 
ments further  than  to  state  that  the  Navy  De- 
partment has  taken  the  lead  in  pointing  out  to 
the  civil  service  where  not  to  follow. 

When  the  war  broke  out,  the  naval  construc- 
tors were  not  competent  to  fulfil  the  require- 
ments in  the  new  era  of  naval  architecture,  and 
there  was  no  naval  engineer  with  requisite 
technical  education  to  meet  the  emergency. 
The  Chief  of  the  Bureau  of  Construction,  I  un- 
derstand, declined  having  anything  to  do  with 
iron  or  armored  vessels,  and  the  projects  for 
ironclads  were  necessarily  intrusted  to  officers 
of  the  line,  the  result  of  which  is  well  known, 
and  not  necessary  to  mention  here,  for  the  ob- 
ject of  this  writing  is  not  to  find  fault,  or  to 
censure  those  who  may  have  been  inadvertently 
at  fault,  but  to  point  out  the  necessity  of  taking 
proper  steps  to  prevent  similar  occurrences  in 


52  TECHNOLOGICAL  EDUCATION. 

the  future,  and  to  prepare  to  follow  up  the 
progressive  times. 

In  regard  to  the  Chief  Engineer  Isherwood's 
saying  that  "  there  is  no  novelty  in  the  para- 
bolic system  of  shipbuilding,"  I  am  justified  in 
taking  prompt  issue  with  him,  for  his  scientific 
education  does  not  extend  so  far  as  to  enable 
him  to  judge  whether  it  embraces  novelty  or 
not. 

I  have,  however,  good  reason  to  believe,  from 
specific  indications  in  discussion  with  him,  that 
Mr.  Isherwood,  in  his  own  mind,  really  thinks 
that  there  is  novelty  in  the  "  parabolic  method." 
What  can  then  constitute  the  object  of  the 
Chief  in  thwarting  the  interests  and  progress 
of  the  Corps  of  Naval  Engineers  ? 


ON  THE 

PARABOLIC  CONSTRUCTION  OF  SHIPS, 

AS  SUBMITTED  TO  THE 

NAYY  DEPARTMENT. 


THE  Parabolic  System  of  constructing  ships 
was  originated  by  the  celebrated  Swedish  naval 
architect,  Chapman,  about  a  century  ago,  at 
which  period  it  was  well  received  among  ship- 
builders, but  on  account  of  its  then  incomplete 
form  (restrictingconductors  to  particular  shapes), 
it  was  gradually  abrogated,  until  no  trace  could 
be  found  of  it,  even  in  works  on  shipbuilding. 
Mr.  Chapman  hit  upon  the  fortunate  idea  that 
the  cross-sections  of  the  displacement  of  a  ves- 
sel ought  to  follow  a  certain  progression,  in 
order  to  present  the  least  possible  resistance 
when  moving  through  the  water.  He  collected 
a  great  many  drawings  of  ships  of  known  good 
and  bad  performances,  and  made  the  following 
investigation.  On  each  drawing  he  transformed 
the  cross-sections  of  the  displacement  into 
rectangles  of  the  same  breadth  as  the  greatest 
5* 


54  TECHNOLOGICAL  EDUCATION 

beam  of  the  load-water-line  of  the  vessel ; 
placed  their  upper  edges  in  the  plan  of  the 
load-water-line,  by  which  he  found  that  the 
under  edges  of  the  rectangles  formed  a  bottom, 
the  curve  of  which  were  parabolas  in  ships  of 
known  good  performances. 

Let  the  accompanying  figure,  1,  represent  a 
ship  with  the  load-water-line,  w,  dead  flat  cross- 
section  a  &  b,  formed  into  the  rectangle  abed, 
and  i  e  i  another  cross-section  formed  into  a 
rectangle  efgh,so  that  the  breadth  ef  is  equal 
to  a  b ;  then  the  line  k  I  m,  Fig.  1,  forming  the 
bottom  of  the  rectangles,  should  be  a  parabola 
with  the  vertex  at  k,  and  k  o  the  axis  of  the 
abscissa. 

Mr.  Chapman  found  that  the  parabola  so  ob- 
tained did  not  terminate  at  the  stem  n,  but  fell 
a  little  short  at  m.  The  deviation  m  n  was  very 
small  in  vessels  of  his  days,  but  in  modern  ves- 
sels it  is  more  considerable,  showing  that  there 
must  be  a  point  of  inflection  p  in  the  curve. 
However  erroneously  we  may  set  out  in  quest 
of  an  object,  experience  generally  leads  us  to- 
wards correct  scientific  principles.  In  the  case 
before  us,  experience  has  increased  the  deviation 
m  n,  and  we  know  that  inasmuch  as  nature  ad- 
mits of  no  physical  by-laws,  the  curve  cannot 
be  a  plain  parabola.  It  is  this  increasing  de- 


AND  SHIPBUILDING. 
Fig.  1. 


55 


viation  m  n  which  has  led  me  to  investigate  the 
subject  more  carefully ;  starting  on  the  prinoi- 


56  TECHNOLOGICAL  EDUCATION 

pie  that  the  resistance  to  a  body  in  motion  in  a 
fluid,  is  a  function  of  the  square  of  the  sine  of 
the  angle  of  incidence  to  the  motion.  Let  abed, 

Fig.  2. 


Fig.  2,  be  a  body  in  motion  in  a  fluid,  in  the 
direction  a  c ;  then  the  resistance  to  that  body 
is  found  by  experiments  to  be  nearly  as  the 
square  of  the  sine  of  the  angle  v ,  omitting  fric- 
tion. 

From  this  it  appears  that  the  proper  progres- 
sion of  the  cross-sections  should  be  as  the  square 
of  the  ordinates  in  a  parabola. 

Let  Fig.  3  represent  a  vessel  with  the  dead- 
flat  JS?  and  stem  n.  Draw  the  cross  section  a  ST  6, 
and  the  rectangle  a  b  c  d,  as  before  described; 
draw  a  parabola  k  I  n  of  any  desired  order,  ter- 
minating at  the  stem ;  then  the  proper  progres- 
sion of  the  cross-sections  should  be  as  the 
square  of  the  ordinates  /3.  Let  the  depth  a  d= 
1,  then  the  ordinates  j3  will  be  fractions  of  a  dt 
and  the  square  /32  multiplied  by  the  area  of  the 
dead- flat  cross-section  JS",  would  give  the  proper 


AND  SHIPBUILDING. 
Fig.  3. 


57 


area  of  the  ordinate  cross  section  0,  or  0=sr  P2, 
Fig.  3.    The  line  k  m  n  should  then  indicate  the 


68 


TECHNOLOGICAL  EDUCATION 


proper   progression  of  the  ordinate  to  cross- 
sections  e.    The  areas  efg  h=i  e  t. 

The  formula  for  a  parabola  in  the  conic  sec- 
tion is — 


Referring  to  the  accompanying  figure,  o  is 
the  vertex  of  the  parabola,  JP  =  parameter,  x  = 
abscissa,  and  y  =  ordinate.  Applying  this  for- 

Fig.  4. 


mula  and  figure  to  the  form  of  a  ship,  we  place 
the  vertex  of  the  parabola  at  the  dead-flat  sr, 
the  axis  of  abscissa  in  the  breadth  b,  and  the 
largest  ordinate  y  in  the  length,  when  the 
parabola  o  r  s,  Fig.  4,  may  represent  a  water- 
line  in  a  vessel,  as  represented  in  Fig.  5. 

The  circle,  ellipse,  parabola,  and  hyperbola, 
in  the  conic  sections  are  lines  of  the  second  or- 
der; but  in  the  construction  of  ships  we  employ 


AND  SHIPBUILDING. 
Fig.  5. 


59 


these  lines  of  any  order  whatever,  for  which 
we  will  denote  the  index  of  the  root  in  the 
parabolic  formula  by  the  letter  n. 

The  parameter  p  is  the  gauge  for  the  para- 
bola, but  is  inconvenient  for  our  purpose;  it 
will  be  better,  therefore,  to  make  a  gauge  that 
will  consist  of  the  given  quantities,  by  limiting 
the  parabolas  within  the  size  of  the  vessel 
when  the  limit  x  =  Z>,  half  the  breadth,  and  the 
limit  y  =  Z,  half  the  length  of  the  vessel. 

The  parabolic  formulas  will  then  appear  — 


V  = 
Of  which  — 


yn 

-     j£  _    - 

"  2  x 


x 


j"_ 

26* 
~F 


and- 


60  TECHNOLOGICAL  EDUCATION 

In  these  formulas  the  parabola  is  gauged  by 
the  half-length  Z,  and  half-breadth  b. 

Let  0  denote  the  distance  from  the  centre-line 
of  a  vessel  to  the  water-line,  then  0  =  6  —  a;, 
or  x  =  b  —  0,  which,  inserted  in  the  above 
formulas,  will  give  — 


x  =  -6  —  0 
of  which  — 


Let  the  depth  a  d,  figs.  1  and  3,  =•  6,  represent 
the  area  of  the  dead-  flat  cross-section  3S,  then 
the  ordinate  cross-sections  will  be  — 


The  formula  1  gives  the  plain  parabolas  k  I  m, 
fig.  1  ;  or*  k  In,  fig.  3  ;  or  o  0  s,  fig.  6  ;  whilst  the 
formula  2  gives  the  paracyma  k  m  n,  fig.  3,  or 
offs,  fig.  6. 

Formula  1  gives  nearly  the  form  of  ships  as 
constructed  i  n  the  days  of  Chapman,  whilst 
formula  2  gives  the  form  of  modern  ships, 
constructed  for  speed. 


AND  SHIPBUILDING 
Fig.  6. 


61 


I  have  investigated  the  progression  of  the 
cross-sections  in  a  great  many  vessels,  from 
most  parts  of  the  world,  as  will  hereafter  be 
shown  in  a  treatise  on  the  parabolic  construction 
of  ships  now  in  progress.  Many  American  ves- 
sels agree  perfectly  with  formula  2,  of  which  the 
U.  S.  frigate  Niagara,  constructed  by  the  late 
Mr.  Steers,  is  one.  The  formula  1,  which  em- 
bodies Chapman's  method,  is  therefore  not  ap- 
plicable in  modern  shipbuilding,  which  I  think 
is  the  reason  why  the  original  parabolic  system 
has  not  been  more  generally  adopted.  It  is 
not  always  necessary  to  pay  the  greatest  atten- 
tion to  speed,  as  there  are  many  other  con- 
ditions of  greater  importance,  namely,  freight, 
shallow  draught,  location  of  metacentre,  and 
centre  of  gravity  of  the  vessel,  for  which  it 
becomes  necessary  so  to  arrange  the  parabolic 
construction  of  ships,  that  it  will  accommodate 
itself  to  all  the  requirements,  as  well  as  to  the 
6 


62 


TECHNOLOGICAL  EDUCATION 


taste  of  the  shipbuilder.  This  can  be  accom- 
plished by  raising  the  ordinate  /3  to  any  arbi- 
trary power,  which  we  will  designate  with  the 
letter  <?,  and  call  it  the  power  of  the  exponent 
n,  when  the  final  formula  will  appear  — 


This  is  the  general  formula  for  the  parabolic 
construction.  Simple  as  it  is,  it  gives  any  line 
or  form  of  a  ship  that  can  reasonably  be  re- 
quired. It  will  form  a  square,  rectangle,  tri- 
angle, circle,  ellipse,  parabola,  hyperbola,  cyma; 
all  of  any  order  or  combination. 

Fig.  7. 


b  =  half  the  breadth,  or  area  of  dead -flat  ST. 
I  =  length  from  js?  to  the  stem  or  stern,  or 
depth  under  water-line. 

For  the  frames,  the  depth  d,  from 
load  water-line  to  the  keel,  takes 
the  place  of  I. 


AND  SHIPBUILDING.  63 

p  =  ordinate  for  the  line,  or  ordinate  cross- 
section. 

y  =  abscissa. 

n  —  exponent. 

q  =>  power  of  the  exponent  n. 

The  variety  of  lines  represented  by  fig.  7  are 
obtained  by  altering  the  power  q,  while  n  re- 
mains constant ;  or  any  variety  of  lines  can  be 
obtained  for  each  value  of  the  exponent  n. 

It  is  here  found  necessary  to  the  development 
of  the  subject,  to  propose  or  establish  new 
names  to  such  lines  as  have  not  heretofore  been 
defined  or  subjected  to  an  algebraic  formula. 
The  degree  of  development  of  an  art  may  be 
correctly  measured  by  the  perfection  of  its 
vocabulary.  As  the  construction  of  ships  has 
not  heretofore  been  brought  to  a  perfect  system, 
we  have  not  been  .able  to  define  the  great 
variety  of  lines  or  forms  of  ships.  We  can  say 
a  vessel  is  very  sharp,  or  very  full,  with  more 
or  less  rise  of  floor ;  but  have  no  language  by 
which  to  convey  correctly,  how  sharp,  how  full, 
or  with  how  much  rise  of  floor.  As  an  illus- 
tration it  may  be  mentioned,  that  on  one  occa- 
sion I  met  some  shipbuilders,  and  discussed 
with  them  the  construction  of  ships,  when  one 
said,  "I  am  constructing  a  ship  that  will  be  so 
sharp,  that  you  cannot  roll  a  barrel  on  the 


64  TECHNOLOGICAL  EDUCATION 

lower  deck,  within  fifteen  feet  of  the  bow," 
which  made  me  but  little  wiser.  Now,  in  the 
language  of  the  parabolic  construction,  to  con- 
vey the  same  idea  with  precision  and  accuracy, 
we  have  only  to  give  the  exponent  and  power, 
which  not  only  impress  the  mind  clearly  with 
the  correct  degree  of  sharpness,  but  also  with 
the  complete  form  of  the  vessel. 

On  anotheT'  occasion  I  remarked  to  a  ship- 
builder, in  his  yard,  that  "  the  lines  of  a  certain 
vessel  were  too  sharp,  and  if  made  fuller  it 
would  go  much  easier  through  water  with  con- 
siderably more  displacement."  The  shipbuilder 
acknowledged  that  it  appeared  to  him  to  be  so, 
but  remarked,  with  the  usual  practical  sneer, 
that  "  it  is  very  easy  to  see  that  after  the  ves- 
sel is  finished."  The  great  merit  in-  the  para- 
bolic construction  is,  that  we  know  the  me- 
chanical and  physical  properties  of  the  lines 
before  they  are  laid  down;  we  need  not  even 
look  at  them  for  such  purpose. 

We  have  both  in  Europe  and  America  many 
curiously  constructed  vessels,  and  some  of  them 
reported  to  perform  wonderfully,  but  we  have 
not  been  able  to  record  their  peculiarities ;  for 
even  the  drawing  of  their  lines  would,  fail  to 
convey  with  correctness  what  constitutes  their 
novelty  or  folly. 


AND  SHIPBUILDING.  65 

It  is  therefore  proposed  to  establish  the  fol- 
lowing technical  terms  in  naval  architecture: — 

Any  line  p  I,  in  the  accompanying  figure  7, 
located  between  the  parabola  p  and  ellipse  e,  is 
to  be  called  Paralipse. 

Any  line  p  c,  located  under  or  within  the 
parabola^?,  to  be  called  Paracyma.  In  archi- 
tecture, cymas  are  generally  constructed  of 
circle-arcs,  but  in  this  case  cymas  are  derived 
from  parabolas. 

Any  line  e  ?,  extending  outside  of  the  ellipse, 
to  be  called  Evolipse. 

In  modern  constructed  vessels,  those  lines 
are  generally  distributed  as  follows : — 

All  water-lines  of  the  displacement  are  Para- 
cymas,  with  the  highest  power  near  the  keel, 
approaching  parabolas  near  the  load  water-line, 
which  latter  may  also  be  a  Paracyma.  The 
frames  are  generally  Paraltpses  about  the  mid- 
dle of  the  vessel,  and  terminate  in  Parabolas 
and  Paracymas,  in  the  stern  and  bow.  Above 
the  water,  the  horizontal  lines  are  generally 
Parabolas  in  the  foreship;  and  in  the  aftership, 
Paraltpses^  Ellipses,  and  Evolipses.  • 

The  power  q  defines  the  line  as  follow : — 


66  TECHNOLOGICAL  EDUCATION 

Parabola  »,         p  =  I  1 1  —  ^ 
\         r> 


Ellipse  e, 

p  =  b  (l—  ^\7:~»' 
V          Z»7 

Circle, 

JB  =  K  /i  —  £Y  •=;• 

\           R'7 

/               i;n\?   !>  1 

Paracyma  p  c, 

7       /^                    U      \          ^    i.  . 

\                  Tn  1 

T»      v  7/1        «/n\7  between  1  and  i 

Paralipse  p  ?,     fl  =  o  (1  —  —  \ 

\          Zv 
Evolipse  e  I,       p  =  b  (l  —  ^Y  ^  *' 


In  my  treatise  on  the  parabolic  construction 
of  ships,  now  in  progress,  there  will  be  calcu- 
lated 5i  values  of  the  power  17,  each  with  90 
different  exponents  n,  making  4860  different 
li.nes,  which  will  cover  the  most  general  require- 
ments in  practice.  Samples  are  here  given. 


AND  SHIPBUILDING. 


67 


SAMPLE  TABLE  FROM  FORMULA  1. 

ixp. 

1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

7 

n.-S[v 

e' 

m' 

t' 

n. 

.1250 

.2.500  .37511 

5000 

.625t 

7500  .8750 

.5000  • 

.3333 

.25 

.1337 

.3020  .4443  .5705 

.7065 

.8232  .9257 

.5555 

.3461 

..-> 

.1815 

.3505  .5050  .6464 

.7701 

.8750;.  9558 

.6000 

.3571 

1.75 

.2084 

.3955(.5607  .7027 

.8203 

.9116  .97371 

.6363 

.3666 

2 

.2344 

.4375  .6094 

.7500 

.859-1 

.9375  .9844' 

.6666 

.3750 

.3021 

1.333 

2.25 

2505 

.4765  .6527  .7898 

.8890 

9558 

.9907 

.6923 

.3823 

.32** 

1.447 

2.5  - 

2*3* 

.5129  .6912  .8232 

.9149 

06S7 

.9945 

.7142 

.3*** 

.3502 

1.562 

2.75 

.3073' 

.5466  .7251  .8013 

.0320 

.9779 

.9967 

7333 

.3948 

.3688 

1.682 

[ 

.3390 

.57815.7558.8750 

9476 

9844 

.9988' 

.7500 

.4000 

.3857 

1.800 

!25 

.3521 

.6074  .7*20  .8949 

.05*7 

.9889 

.9988 

.7647 

.4047 

.4010 

1.922 

3.5 

.37:!:; 

.6346   *"70  .olU'i 

9677 

.9922 

.0003 

.7777 

.4091 

.4144 

2.040 

3.75 

3939 

.6600^82.*!  .025*; 

.9747 

9945 

.9996 

.7894 

.4130 

.4263 

2.160 

4    ' 

.4138 

.6836  .8474 

9375 

9802 

.9961 

.9998 

.8000 

.4166 

4376 

2.285 

4.5 

.4517 

.72(10  ,*701  .055;. 

.8979 

.9980 

.9990 

8181 

,4.'30 

.4570 

2.534 

i 

.4871 

.7627  .9046  .9687 

.9926 

.0:100 

B999 

.8333 

.4286 

.4731 

2.775 

6 

5512 

.8220,  9404 

.9841 

.9972 

.9997 

1.000 

.8571 

.4375 

.5000 

3.270 

r 

8665  .9627 

.0022 

.9989 

.9999 

1.000 

.8750 

.4444 

.5202 

3.770 

8 

.6564 

8999  .97('.7  1 

.9996 

.9999 

1.000 

.8888 

.4500  .5354 

4.272 

12 

7986 

9683  .9964  .0007 

.9999 

1.000 

1.000 

.9231 

.4643 

.5768 

6.275 

16 

8819 

.9900J.9994  .0008 

9999 

1.000 

1.000 

.9412 

.4720 

.6060 

8.273 

SAMPLE  TABLE  FROM  FORMULA  2. 

n. 

1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

7 

a.Uiu 

t' 

1 

:  13(33  :625t 

1406  .2500 

.390(1 

.5625 

.7656 

.3333 

.2500 

1.2.5 

:2363  :912::. 

1074  .3350 

.4002 

.6777 

."8569 

.3968 

.2691 

1.5 

:3295  .112." 

2547  .1170 

.5934 

.7656 

.0136 

.4500 

.2860 

1.75 

:4342  .15'!.- 

31  11  .  1938 

.6729 

.8310 

.9481 

.4949 

.3000 

2 

:5l'i.3  .101  i 

.3713  .5625 

.7383 

8789 

,9690 

.5333 

3125  .2273  1.21P 

2  25 

:673fi  .'-271 

.4280 

.6237 

.7020 

.9136  .0*15 

.5(1;;  4 

.3189  .2541  1.273 

2  5  - 

:*o.-,i;  .263(1 

.4777 

.677.7 

.837J 

.5052 

27701.335 

2.75 

:'.i445  .SB8S 

721* 

.6209 

MM 

.2979  1.402 

3 

5713 

.8980 

.642S    *»«*..  3164  1  472 

3.25 

.1210  .3088 

.6130 

8008 

.6627 

.3571  .3255  1.545 

35 

.13!'!  .40J* 

.6512 

8311 

.9844 

500  1.620 

.1555  .43.V 

8669 

ooo2 

.6900 

1881  1.697 

4 

.1712  .4673 

.7181 

*7*0 

.7111 

.3750  .:;7li5  1  773 

4.5 

2045  .527o 

9137 

.7363 

.3846  .4000 

1  929 

5 

.M" 

,3929 

.410(1 

9 

.H72:i  .*5t 

9690 

9999 

.71.12 

.4517 

2.407 

7 

.75!'-    926 

|*11 

.997! 

1  000 

.4106 

.4768 

2  732 

8 

.051' 

1022  .9991 

i.ooo 

.8366 

.4250 

.4962 

3  060 

12 

.002 

1.  000 

.S*(il 

1464 

.5463 

16 

.98 

1  0(M 

1.000 

.9129 

..Hi2!i  .OT68 

68  TECHNOLOGICAL  EDUCATION 

The  length  I  from  the  dead  flat  jg  to  stern  or 
stern,  also  the  draft  of  water  from  the  load-line 
to  the  base-line,  are  each  divided  into  eight 
parts,  forming  the  ordinates,  1,  2,  3,  4,  5,  6,  7, 
in  the  table,  counted  from  the  stem  or  stern  of 
the  centre  .BT,  or  from  base  line  to  water-line, 
as  represented  in  the  accompanying  plate. 

Either  table,  exponent,  or  power,  can  be 
employed  for  either  frames,  water-lines,  or 
displacement. 

Area  of  any  water-line  a  or  a. 

s» 

cross-section  .&•  or  e.    \  =  j  $  jyt 
Cubic  contents  of  displacement  D.   ) 
which  integral  coefficient  is  contained  in  the 
column  a'-Sr'i/. 

The  depth  of  the  centre  of  gravity  of  any 
cross-section,  or  of  the  displacement,  or  the  dis- 
tance from  the  dead-flat  s?,  to  the  centre  of 
gravity  of  the  area  of  any  water-line,  or  of  the 
fore  or  aft  part  of  the  displacement,  will  be  — 


C  V 
J 


a,  JST,  or  D' 

which  integral  coefficient  is  contained  in  the 
column  t'. 

The  height  of  the  metacentre  will  be — 
2 


AND -SHIPBUILDING.  69 

which  integral  coefficient — 

2 

nmr     --.    — 

3 

is  contained  in  the  column  ra'. 

When  the  power  q  and  exponent  n  are  given, 
we  have — 


Heiht  of  metacentre  m  — 


Momentum  of  stability  =  Q  sin.  v  (  -     -  +  g  Y 

Q  =  weight  of  the  vessel,  and  g  =  vertical 
height  between  the  two  centres  of  gravity. 

The  mean  angle  of  resistance  of  the  vessel 
through  water  is  found  by  the  following  for- 
mula: — 

C  /        it1  \2*~3  T/3""3 
tang.  v=q*b  n2J    (1  —  fr  )        ^ST^' 

The  integral  coefficient  of  this  formula  is 
contained  in  the  last  column  i'  in  the  table. 

It  does  not  appear  that  Chapman  attempted 
to  form  the  water-lines  and  frames  of  a  vessel 
by  the  parabolic  method.  He  says  the  area  of 
the  cross  sections  can  be  approximated  by  a 
parabola,  placing  the  vertex  at  the  keel  ;  but 
this  cannot  give  a  proper  shape  to  the  frame. 
Inasmuch  as  the  displacement  of  a  vessel  is  the 
integral  of  the  areas  of  the  water-lines  and 


70  TECHNOLOGICAL  EDUCATION 

cross-sections,  and  as  those  areas  are  integrals 
of  the  ordinates  in  the  frames  and  water-lines, 
they  are  all  convertible  into  one  another  by  a 
common  formula,  which  is  the  formula  3,  and 
which  formula,  simply  by  placing  q  =  1,  em- 
bodies ChapmaVs  system  completely.  But  by 
so  doing,  the  constructor  is  restricted  to  a 
stiff  and  obstinate  guide,  which  will  not  yield 
'to  his  taste,  and  we  have  the  result  before  us; 
namely,  the  shipbuilder  assumes  his  indepen- 
dence. It  would  be  futile  to  attempt  to  intro- 
duce a  system  of  constructing  ships  that  would 
not  accommodate  itself  to  the  taste  of  the  con- 
structor. By  Chapman's  system,  wnen  the 
length,  breadth,  depth,  and  the  displacement 
are  given,  then  the  sharpness  of  the  vessel  is 
obdurately  fixed  ;  while  by  giving  an  arbitrary 
value  (as  here  proposed)  to  q,  the  sharpness 
and  ease  of  the  lines  can  be  made  to  vary  con- 
siderably, and  accommodate  themselves  to  the 
taste  of  the  architect. 

Suppose  the  area,  length,  and  breadth  of  the 
load-water-line  of  a  vessel  are  given,  which  is 
substantially  the  same  as  if  the  displacement, 
dead-flat,  cross-section  and  length  were  given; 
then  Chapman's  method,  formula  1,  will  pro- 
duce the  fixed  line,  say  omms,  fig.  8,  while  the 
formula  2  will  produce  any  variety  of  lines,  as 


AND  SHIPBUILDING. 


71 


o  Q  o  s,  or  o  e  e  s,  or  if  we  wish  to  go  to  the  ex- 
treme the  wrong  way,  we  can  produce  the  line 
onus;  in  fact,  the  formula  3  can  manipulate 
the  displacement  the  same  as  one  can  work  a 
lump  of  soft  clay  in  his  hands.  This  is  a  pro- 


perty of  my  parabolic  system  which  does  not 
yet  appear  to  have  been  appreciated,  but  whose 
utility,  when  once  fairly  understood,  must  be 
universally  accepted. 

It  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  this  short  out- 
line of  the  parabolic  construction  embodies  the 
full  capacity  of  that  method,  for  which  a  much 
more  complete  work  would  be  required.  When 
constructors  become  accustomed  to  the  tables, 
they  can  readily  select  the  proper  exponents, 
and  reason  intelligibly  with  each  other  on  the 
forms  of  lines  and  vessels. 


72  TECHNOLOGICAL  EDUCATION 


APPLICATION. 

Let  it  be  required  to  construct  a  vessel  of 
the  following  dimensions: — 
Length  in  the  load-line,  L  =  325  feet. 

Breadth  of  beam,  B  =    40     " 

Draft  of  water  from  base-line,        d  =    18     " 

Let  the  dead  flat  cross-section  be  selected 
from  table  1,  of  the  exponent  n  =  6;  then  the 
numbers  in  the  line  6,  multiplied  by  half  the 
beam  b  =  20  feet,  will  give  the  corresponding 
ordinates  in  the  dead  flat  frame;  and  the  area 
will  be  N  =  B  d  j£'=40  x  18  x  0.8571  =  617.112 
square  feet. 

Let  the  load-water-line  be  selected  from 
table  2,  of  exponent  n  =  3  ;  then  the  numbers 
in  the  line  3,  multiplied  by  half  the  beam  b  = 
20  feet,  gives  the  corresponding  ordinates  in 
the  water-line,  and  the  area  will  be  a  =  LBa' 
=  325  X  40  X  0.6428=8356.4  square  feet. 

Let  the  displacement  be  selected  from  table  2, 
and  of  exponent  w=3.25,  then  the  numbers  in 
the  line  3.35,  multiplied  by  the  dead-flat  cross- 
section  3£  =  617.112  square  feet,  will  give  the 


AND  SHIPBUILDING.  73 

corresponding  ordinate  cross-sections  of  the  dis- 
placement. The  cubic  contents  of  the  displace- 
ment will  be  D=  m  LD'=617.112  X  325  x  0.6627 
=  132912  cubic  feet,  or  3797.4  tons. 

The  sample  tables  here  given  do  not  extend  so 
far  as  to  allow  a  correct  calculation  of  the  depth 
of  the  centre  of  gravity  of  the  displacement,  but 
suppose  the  areas  of  the  water-lines  to  progress 
with  the  exponent  w=5,  table  1,  then  the  depth 
of  the  centre  of  gravity  of  the  displacement 
will  be  de'=18x4286=7.7148  feet. 

The  height  of  metacentre  above  the  centre 
of  gravity  of  the  displacement  will  be  — 


325  x203x  0.3164 
~1T~=~     ~T829l2~~ 

This  metacentre  is  very  low  on  account  of 
having  assumed  a  very  sharp  water-line. 

The  tangent  for  the  mean  angle  of  resistance 
will  be  — 

mtr     617.112xl.472      nQ1A~~ 
tang,  v  =  —  -  =  -  ~-p—  -  =  0.310o6 
•Ld         £  x  325x18 

=  tang.  11°  33'. 

The  actual  resistance  by  impact  and  friction, 
the  wet  area  of  the  hull  of  the  displacement,  &c. 
&c.,  are  calculated  by  simple  formulas  not  given 
in  this  short  outline  of  the  parabolic  construc- 
tion. 

7 


74  TECHNOLOGICAL  EDUCATION 

Recording  Formula. 

The  form  of  any  vessel  may  be  recorded  by 
one  general  formula,  as  follows  :  — 


\mnqj 
The   first   factor   J  ^  I   I    represents    the 

properties  of  the  after-body  of  the  displacement. 
w  n  q  represents  the  exponent  n  and  power  q 
of  the  load-  water-line  ;  vnq  the  exponent  n 
and  power  q  of  the  displacement,  and  I  the 
length  from  the  stern-post  to  the  dead-flat  sr  in 
a  fraction  of  the  whole  length  L  of  the  vessel. 

The  second  factor  (        \    represents     the 

dead-flat,  or  L  the  whole  length  of  the  vessel,  b 
the  half  dead-flat  breadth  in  the  load-water- 
line,  and  d  the  drift  of  water  from  the  base-line 
to  the  load-water-line.  ]&nq  represents  the 
exponent  n  and  power  q  of  the  dead-flat  ST. 

The  third  factor  I  j  n  %'  represents  the  pro- 

perties of  the  fore-body  of  the  displacement;  I 
is  the  length  from  the  dead-  flat  N  to  the  stem 
of  the  vessel;  n  and  q  represent  the  exponents 
n  and  powers  q  for  the  load-  water-line  and  the 
displacement  respectively;  I  and  I  may  be  ex- 
pressed in  real  length,  as  feet. 


AND  SHIPBUILDING.  75 

A  well-proportioned  sailing  yacht  may  be 
set  up  as  follows,  with  numerical  values  in  the 
general  formula:  — 

w3x2)    AOO-I  /80x8x8\  nA1Q    (2.75x2. 
D2x2      °^l      sr3x4      °'619      2x2. 


These  data  will  enable  a  shipbuilder  to  con- 
struct a  sailing  yacht  of  definite  shape. 

When  constructors  become  accustomed  to 
the  parabolic  method,  they  can  determine  with 
great  correctness  the  exponent  n  and  power  q 
of  any  line  at  first  sight,  and  thus  enable  them 
to  record  by  the  above  formula,  the  form  of 
any  vessel  exposed  to  view,  from  which  a  simi- 
lar vessel  can  afterwards  be  constructed. 

Eecords  of  this  kind  have  been  frequently 
made  in  shipyards  by  the  author,  of  which  a 
case  may  be  mentioned,  namely,  the  "Dictator" 
(built  by  Hogan  &  Delamater,  New  York),  of 
which  the  following  formula  was  recorded:  — 

Formula  for  the  Dictator. 

w  5.5  X  1-75  \  Qfi  /  240  X  21  X  16  \  144  f  2.75  X  1.5 
D  4.75  x  3.25  i  yb  V  -®  2.75  xO.5   )  1  *  \  3  x  2. 

From  these  data  a  vessel  can,  at  any  time, 
be  constructed  similar  to  the  "Dictator,"  by 
any  one  familiar  with  the  method.  The  draft 
16  feet  is  from  the  base-line  to  the  under  side 


76  TECHNOLOGICAL  EDUCATION 

of  guards,  but  she  draws  some  four  feet  more 
water. 

A  skilful  shipbuilder  may,  by  his  empirical 
mode  of  reasoning,  be  able  to  memorize,  for  a 
short  time,  the  form  of  a  ship,  but  most  likely 
in  a  clouded  condition,  which  will  soon  vanish 
away. 

Recording  Tables. 

The  properties  of  a  vessel  can  be  more 
minutely  and  fully  recorded  in  a  table  of  a 
general  form,  as  follows.  The  vessel  being 
divided  from  the  dead-flat  js.  to  the  stern  and 
to  the  stem,  also  from  the  base-line  to  the  load- 
water-line,  into  eight  equal  parts,  as  shown  on 
the  accompanying  plate: — construct  the  follow- 
ing two  tables,  one  for  the  after-ship  and  one 
for  the  fore-ship.  The  data  given  in  these  ta- 
bles are  for  a  steamboat.  The  top  line  s  con- 
tains the  sheer  of  the  vessel,  or  height  from  the 
load-water-line  to  the  rail,  at  each  division  or 
ordinate.  The  line  R  contains  the  ordinates  for 
the  rail,  and  D  that  of  the  deck.  In  these  tables, 
the  dimensions  do  not  correspond  with  those 
on  the  plate.  The  line  D  w  means  a  line  of  a 
plane  tangenting  the  deck  at  &r,  and  parallel  to 
the  load-water-line;  the  deck-line  was  not 
shown  on  the  drawing  from  which  this  table  is 


*j 

I 

<x 

s- 

s 


AXD  SHIPBUILDING.  77 

made.  The  line  Ord.  contains  the  number  of 
each  ordinate  from  stem  or  stern  to  the  dead- 
flat  BE.  The  line  w  contains  the  ordinates  for 
the  load-water-line,  and  the  lines  7,  6,  &c.  &c., 
contain  the  ordinates  for  the  corresponding 
water-lines. 

The  line  o  contains  the  half-width  of  throat 
in  the  base-line.  The  line  e  contains  the  half- 
areas  of  the  ordinate  cross-sections  of  the  dis- 
placement. The  line  n  contains  the  exponent 
of  the  frames.  The  line  q  contains  the  powers 
of  the  frames.  The  line  u  contains  the  length 
of  each  frame  from  the  base-line  to  the  load- 
water-line. 

The  column  a  contains  the  area  of  each 
water-line,  n  the  exponent,  and  q  the  power  for 
the  corresponding  water-line.  Column  o  con- 
tains the  half-width  of  throat  on  the  stern-post 
or  stem ;  in  this  case  it  shows  that  the  boat  is 
a  propeller,  because  the  throat  is  widest  at  the 
ordinate  4,  where  the  propeller  shaft  goes 
through  the  stern-post.  Columns  A  or  F  con- 
tain the  ordinates  for  the  throat  on  stern-post  or 
stem,  measured  from  the  perpendicular.  Col- 
umn u  contains  the  length  of  the  corresponding 
water-line  from  stem  or  stern  "to  the  dead-flat  .gr. 

The  corner  e  jg?  contains  the  half  area  of  the 
greatest  immersed  cross-section,  which,  in  this 
7* 


78  TECHNOLOGICAL  EDUCATION. 

case,  is  133.4  square  feet.  Corner  0  a  contains 
the  half-displacement  of  the  vessel  from  sr  to 
stem  10000,  or  stern  8528  cubic  feet.  The 
corners  o  n  and  0  q  contain  the  exponent  and 
power  of  the  displacement  longitudinally ;  and 
the  corners  a  n  and  a  q  contain  the  exponent 
and  power  of  the  displacement  vertically.  The 
corner  q  q  contains  the  mean  angle  of  resistance 
13°  54',  or  mean  angle  of  delivery  14°  49'. 
The  corner  u  u  contains  the  wet  surface  of  half 
the  displacement  from  T&  to  stern  or  stem. 
The  constructing  draft  of  water  and  length  are 
contained  in  the  corners  o  u  and  u  o. 

This  form  of  table  will  suit  for  any  shape  or 
size  of  vessel.  It  is  like  a  tailor's  measurement 
of  a  coat.  When  the  shipbuilder  becomes  ac- 
customed to  it,  he  can  see,  at  the  first  glance, 
the  properties  of  the  vessel. 

When  thus  brought  to  a  system,  forms  of 
tables  could  be  printed  and  bound  in  a  book, 
for  the  use  of  shipbuilders. 

The  general  formula  for  this  steamboat  is — 

W  3.375X0.824)    Ra  fi   /18S.6  X  W .35  X  10\  1(V,  \     4.5x125. 
D  3.375  X  1.375  J    8i '"   ^   jg  6. 75X1.125   )  lw  $3.625X1.375. 

When  the  shape  of  the  vessel  is  thus  ob- 
tained and  recorded,  divide  the  frames  as  re- 
quired in  building  the  ship. 

The  formula  for  the  steam-propellor  repre- 
sented on  the  plate  is — 

W2.SXU    g,,;,,   /150X15X15\  c.,.07,    J  2X1.18. 
D  2X2    \    65-025 


AND  SHIPBUILDING. 


79 


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TECHNOLOGICAL  EDUCATION 


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AND  SHIPBUILDING.  81 

The  general  shipbuilding  tables  from  formula 
3,  have  been  calculated,  corrected,  and  rear- 
ranged several  times.  The  undertaking  is  simi- 
lar to  that  of  calculating  tables  of  logarithms, 
and  although  equally  extensive,  is  much  more 
complicated,  and  too  great  a  task  for  a  single 
individual.  The  immense  amount  of  labor 
which  has  been  spent  on  logarithms  by  different 
mathematicians,  in  different  countries,  is  well 
known,  as  also  that  it  required  some  two  cen- 
turies before  they  were  brought  to  a  condition 
of  thorough  reliability. 

Baron  Napier  invented  the  foundation  of 
logarithms  printed  in  his  Canon  Mirdbilis  Lo- 
gariihmorum,  in  the  year  1614,  but  started  on 
an  inconvenient  basis,  which  was  improved  by 
Professor  Henry  Briggs  in  1615,  who  calcu- 
lated our  present  common  logarithms  for  the 
natural  numbers  up  to  30,000,  and  in  1628,  the 
logarithms  for  all  natural  numbers  were  com- 
puted for  the  first  time  up  to  100,000.  Since 
then  the  logarithms  have  been  calculated  over 
and  over  again  by  different  mathematicians, 
who  have  continually  discovered  errors  in  the 
same,  until  very  recently  the  last  edition  of 
Vega's  tables  has  been  generally  accepted  as 
correct. 


82  TECHNOLOGICAL  EDUCATION 

The  shipbuilding  tables  may  be  considered 
in  a  similar  situation. 

The  difficulty  is  first  to  calculate  a  complete 
and  well-arranged  set  of  tables,  then  to  have 
them  perfectly  corrected  and  purged  from 
errors;  all  of  which  could  have  been  accom- 
plished in  the  Bureau  of  Steam-Engineering, 
had  I  only  succeeded  in  securing  for  them  the 
appreciation  of  the  Navy  Department. 

The  individual  sacrifice  of  labor  and  time 
necessary  to  perfect  these  tables  is  altogether  in- 
conceivable by  the  uninitiated,  and  would  never 
be  compensated  by  the  immediate  sales  of  such 
a  publication.  I,  therefore,  amidst  my  multi- 
farious and  pressing  engagements,  leave  to 
others  both  the  profit  and  distinction  that  may 
accrue  from  their  ultimate  perfection,  and  will 
cheerfully  contribute  my  quota  as  a  purchaser, 
to  their  cost,  rather  than  assume  this  herculean 
labor  myself. 


AND  SHIPBUILDING.  83 


CONSTRUCTOR'S  OFFICE,  II.  S.  NAVY  YARD, 
PHILADELPHIA,  Sept.  14,  1865. 

SIR  :  I  have  examined  your  proposed  method 
of  constructing  ships,  called  the  parabolic  con- 
struction, and  am  of  the  opinion  it  will  be  very 
useful  for  the  shipbuilding  profession,  and  think 
it  embraces,  in  full,  the  merit  therein  described. 
I  am,  very  respectfully, 
Your  obedient  servant, 
W.  L.  HANSCOM, 

Naval  Constructor. 
J.  W.  NYSTROM, 
Civil  Engineer, 
Philadelphia. 


84  TECHNOLOGICAL  EDUCATION 


PHILADELPHIA,  Sept.  14,  1865. 

SIR:  Having  been  shown  the  system  pro- 
posed by  you  for  calculating  the  data  necessary 
in  the  construction  of  the  models  of  vessels,  I 
am  of  the  opinion  that  so  certain  and  easy  a 
mode  of  ascertaining  the  shape  and  dimensions 
hitherto  assumed  by  individual  judgment, 
would  be  immensely  valuable  to  the  profession. 

And  with  regard  to  the  principle  on  which 
said  system  is  based,  I  have  no  reason,  from 
my  present  knowledge  of  it,  to  doubt  that  by 
its  adoption,  at  least  a  great  improvement  in 
models  over  the  average  now  made  would 
result. 

Very  respectfully, 

J.  VAUGHAN  MERRICK. 

J.  W.  NYSTROM,  ESQ. 


RESIGNATION. 


NAVY  DEPARTMENT, 
WASHINGTON,  D.  C.,  July  8,  1865. 

SIR  :  I  respectfully  beg  leave  to  tender  my 
resignation  as  Acting  Chief  Engineer  in  the 
U.  S.  Navy. 

At  the  time  the  Navy  Department  paid  me 
the  compliment  of  declining  a  previous  resig- 
nation (tendered  on  the  3d  of  February  last),  I 
gave  as  a  reason  that  "the  pay  was  much  less 
than  I  could  obtain  in  private  employment, 
whilst  the  living  was  much  higher  in  Wash- 
ington." 

However  true  this  may  have  been,  the  real 
reason  for  tendering  my  resignation,  both  then 
and  now,  as  stated  to  Mr.  Isherwood,  the  Chief 
of  the  Bureau  of  Steam-Engineering,  was  that 
I  have  failed  in  bringing  my  attainments  and 
qualifications  to  the  notice  and  due  appreciation 
of  the  Department. 

My  present  duties  are  limited,  I  may  say,  to 
questions  of  simple  arithmetic,  which  could  be 


86  TECHNOLOGICAL  EDUCATION,  ETC. 

performed  by  a  schoolboy,  whilst  my  engineer- 
ing knowledge,  which  is  actually  needed,  and 
could  be  advantageously  employed  for  the 
benefit  of  the  navy  and  the  country,  is  thrown 
away. 

Under  a  conviction  that  my  knowledge  of 
naval  engineering  would  render  me  eminently 
useful,  and  that  from  the  present  condition  of 
the  country  the  Department  actually  requires 
the  utilization  of  every  possible  means  which 
could  be  directed  to  the  advancement  of  this 
paramount  interest,  I  cannot  conscientiously 
continue  on  the  pay-rolls  of  the  navy  whilst 
the  class  of  services  I  am  required  to  render 
are  at  once  so  unworthy  of  myself,  and  so  in- 
adequate a  requital  to  the  government  for  the 
emolument  which  it  so  generously  confers 
upon  me. 

I  have  the  honor  to  remain, 
Your  Excellency's  ob't  serv't, 
JOHN  W.  NYSTROM, 
Act.  Chief  Engineer,  U.  S.  N. 

Hon.  GIDEON  WELLES, 
Secretary  of  the  Navy. 


MEMOEANDUM. 


WASHINGTON,  July  10,  1865. 

THE  acceptance  of  my  resignation,  tendered 
on  the  8th  inst.,  was  received  this  morning. 

I  have  thus  resigned  a  position  in  the  navy 
where  my  professional  attainments  are  most 
needed,  and  where  my  engineering  knowledge 
could  not  be  utilized  because  there  was  no  one 
in  the  Navy  Department  who  could  appreciate 
or  employ  them.  There  is  work  in  the  Bureau 
of  Steam-Engineering  for  a  dozen  engineers  of 
my  qualifications,  -and  there  are  now  many 
good  mathematicians  in  that  Bureau  who  would 
be  very  glad  to  undertake  such  work  as  is  now 
needed  in  the  organization  and  instruction  of 
the  Engineer  Cadets,  but  there  is>no  one  in  the 
Department  with  adequate  technical  knowledge 
to  take  the  lead  in  such  an  important  enter- 
prise. 

The  Navy  Department  is  apparently  unaware 
that  our  present  scientific  books  are  not  only 
inadequate  to  meet  the  requirements  of  the 


88  TECHNOLOGICAL  EDUCATION 

day,  but  much  of  the  matter  existing  in  them 
is  very  confused,  without  order  or  classification, 
and  some  of  it  is  not  correct.  Besides,  many 
of  our  scientific  books  contain  an  unnecessary 
burden  for  students. 

In  the  multifarious  studies  required  in  our 
days  by  Naval  Engineers,  it  is  of  great  im- 
portance to  economize  their  time  and  labor. 

The  science  of  dynamics  is  yet  in  a  very 
complicated  and  confused  condition,  without  a 
specific  meaning  being  attached  to  the  terms 
employed.  Correspondents  are  constantly 
seeking  information,  through  scientific  jour- 
nals, on  the  subject  of  dynamics,  and  invariably 
receive  confused  answers,  in  verification  of 
which  a  few  examples  may  be  given. 

The  Scientific  American,  of  November  26. 
1864,  informs  its  correspondents  that  "the  size 
"and  weight  of  a  fly-wheel  must  be  in  proper 
"proportion  to  the  machine  which  it  is  designed 
"  to  regulate,  and  this  is  determined  by  observa- 
tion and  experience;  it  cannot  be  calculated 
"by  any  mathematical  rule.  Within  the  limit 
"usually  adopted  by  mechanics,  our  preference 
"is  for  light  wheels  of  large  diameter,  rather 
"than  for  heavier  ones  of  smaller  diameter.  The 
"regulating  power  of  fly-wheels  is  in  proportion 


AND  SHIPBUILDING.  89 

"  to  their  weight  multiplied  by  the  square  of 
"  their  velocity." 

Here  it  is  asserted  that  the  weight  of  a  fly- 
wheel must  be  in  proper  proportion  to  the 
machine!  whilst  we  know  that  many  machines 
run  well  without  a  fly-wheel ;  its  sole  function 
and  office  is  to  approach  uniformity  of  motion 
by  regulating  alternate  irregular  work.  The 
Scientific  American  says  that  "the  proper  size  of 
the  fly-wheel  cannot  be  calculated."  The  action 
of  a  fly-wheel,  however,  is  calculated  and  de- 
termined as  easily  as  a  simple  problem  in  ge- 
ometry; but  we  have  yet  no  books  where  this 
is  properly  explained. 

An  English  scientific  journal  informs  its  cor- 
respondent that  "  the  size  and  weight  of  fly- 
"  wheels  are  usually  determined  from  practical 
"experiment.  There  is  given  an  elaborate 
"theory  of  the  fly-wheel  in  Moseley's  Mechanical 
"Principles  of  Architecture  and  Engineering,  but 
"  the  formulas  deduced  are  very  intricate." 

The  formulas  here  quoted  are  complicated, 
because  the  subject  is  not  properly  under- 
stood. 

The  Scientific  American  also  for  Sept.  10, 1864, 
informs  its  correspondent  that  "  when  a  body 
"is  raised  slowly,  the  power  required  to  over- 
"  come  the  inertia  is  inappreciable,  and  must  be 


90  TECHNOLOGICAL  EDUCATION 

"  disregarded  in  reckoning  the  work  done.  But 
"when  the  velocity  is  appreciable,  it  must  be 
"  considered  in  computing  the  work.  This  part 
"  of  the  work  is  in  proportion  to  the  square  of 
-"  the  velocity."  Now  the  work  required  to  raise 
a  body  is  equal  to  the  weight  of  the  body  mul- 
tiplied by  the  height  to  which  it  is  raised,  inde- 
pendently of  velocity.  The  work  expended  on 
the  inertia  in  starting  the  body,  is  re-utilized 
when  it  is  brought  to  rest.  From  the  Scientific 
American,  we  may  infer  that  work  is  required 
to  overcome  the  inertia,  while  the  body  is  raised 
with  a  uniform  velocity. 

Another  correspondent  is  informed  that  "  the 
"  vis- viva,  or  force  of  a  moving  body,  is  in  pro- 
"  portion  to  the  square  of  the  velocity,  and  the 
"  power  required  to  impart  velocity  is  in  the 
"same  ratio.  It  therefore  requires  an  expencli- 
"ture  of  four  times  the  force  to  impart  double 
"  velocity  either  to  a  projectile  or  to  a  revolving 
"  wheel." 

Here  force,  power,  and  work  are,  as  usual, 
confounded  with  each  other.  A  force  of  one 
pound  can  give  as  much  velocity  to  a  body  free 
to  move  as  a  force  of  a  hundred  pounds,  if 
time  be  disregarded.  In  equal  times,  the  force 
is  directly  as  the  velocity.  In  equal  space,  the 


AND  SHIPBUILDING.  91 

force  is  as  the  square  of  the  velocity,  or  in- 
versely as  the  square  of  the  time. 

The  science  of  dynamics  is  yet  in  the  condi- 
tion which  geometry  would  be  without  illus- 
trations. Dynamical  quantities  are  physical 
operations,  and  cannot  be  recognized  as  mate- 
rial or  geometrical  objects,  but  must  be  con- 
ceived from  algebraical  formulas.  But  among 
the  very  best  mathematicians,  there  are  few  who 
can  conceive  the  true  configuration  of  an  ob- 
ject when  it  is  simply  expressed  in  a  compli- 
cated formula.  Dynamical  quantities,  such  as 
force,  velocity,  and  time,  and  their  combinations, 
into  power,  space,  and  work,  can  be  compared 
with  and  illustrated  by  geometrical  objects,  and 
thus  made  to  present  a  clear  conception  to  the 
mind,  without  which  it  is  often  difficult,  if  not 
impossible.  At  least,  I  have  not  myself  been 
able  to  form  a  clear  conception  of  dynamics 
without  the  aid  of  adequate  illustrations. 

It  yet  remains  to  explain  and  illustrate  how 
work  is  accumulated  in,  and  distributed  by  a 
fly-wheel ;  how  the  combination  and  distribution 
of  work  in  machinery  in  general  is  performed 
— such  as  the  operation  of  the  moving  mass  in 
our  present  propeller-engines,  which  constitutes 
a  very  important  item  in  the  success  of  the 
machinery;  how  the  work  required  to  transport 


92  TECHNOLOGICAL  EDUCATION 

a  given  cargo  a  given  distance,  in  different 
forms  of  ships  with  different  speeds  is  achieved; 
all  this,  yet  remains  a  mere  conjecture,  is  spoken 
of  as  a  craft  to  be  acquired  only  by  experience, 
and  the  rationale  of  the  problem  has  never  been 
given. 

I  proposed  to  the  Engineer-in-Chief  of  the 
Navy,  Mr.  Isherwood,  to  clear  up  this  subject 
of  dynamics  for  the  Naval  Engineer  Cadets, 
but  the  proposition  was  in  vain. 

"Whatever  I  proposed  in  that  quarter,  whether 
based  upon  true  scientific  principles  which 
could  not  be  disputed,  or  upon  ideas  which  are 
avowedly  in  successful  operation  in  different 
parts  of  the  world,  was  obdurately  declined 
and  invariably  overwhelmed  with  quack  reason- 
ing, informing  me  that  what  they  already  did 
was  perfection,  and  that  every  possible  idea  was 
exhausted  for  ages  to  come. 

The  disposition  to  suppose  that  we  have 
reached  perfection  actually  bars  the  path  of 
progress  in  the  Navy  Department,  and  that 
illustrious  Chief,  with  all  his  talent,  will  never 
progress,  until  he  finds  out  that  he  is  behind 
the  time. 

By  reason  of  a  want  of  a  proper  development 
of  the  science  of  dynamics,  even  Mr.  Isherwood 
has  committed  serious  blunders  in  his  elaborate 


AND  SHIPBUILDING.  93 

works  on  steam-engineering;  a  reference  to 
one  instance  of  which  will  be  sufficient  to  jus- 
tify this  statement. 

In  the  Engineer's  Precedent,  vol.  2,  page  26, 
Mr.  Isherwood  divides  the  equivalent  of  horse- 
power 33,000  foot-pounds  by  Joule's  dynamic 
equivalent  of  heat  772  foot-pounds;  and  he 
calls  the  quotient  42.7461  pounds  of  water 
raised  one  degree  Fab..,  the  thermal  equivalent 
of  an  indicated  horse-power !  This  is  non- 
sense. 

The  equivalent  of  one  horse-power  is  a  force 
of  33,000  pounds,  moving  with  a  velocity  of  one 
foot  per  minute,  or  the  product  of  force  and 
velocity;  whilst  the  dynamic  equivalent  of  heat 
is  a  force  of  772  pounds  moved  through  a  space 
of  one  foot.  But  space  is  the  product  of  time 
and  velocity,  for  which  the  dynamic  equivalent 
of  heat,  will  be  the  product  of  the  three  simple 
elements,  force,  velocity,  and  time,  which  is  work. 

Therefore,  if  poiver  is  divided  by  work,  the 
quotient  will  be  the  reciprocal  of  time,  instead 
of  the  thermal  equivalent  of  indicated  horse- 
power, as  erroneously  asserted  by  Mr.  Isher- 
wood. 

This  error  is  carried  through  his  two  vol- 
umes of  Experimental  Reseaches  in  Steam- Engi- 
neering, and  he  has  based  thereon  some  very 


94  TECHNOLOGICAL  EDUCATION 

important  calculations  and  decisions,  on  the 
efficiency  of  different  kinds  of  coal,  on  the 
evaporative  efficiency  of  different  kinds  of 
boilers,  and  on  the  economy  of  the  expansion 
of  steam ! 

Other  engineers  have  thus  been  led  into  the 
same  errors,  some  of  which  have  been  repeated 
in  scientific  journals. 

We  have  yet  no  books  for  the  schools  or 
colleges,  which  explain  the  difference  between 
foot-pounds  of  power,  foot-pounds  of  work,  and 
foot-pounds  of  momentum. 

In  order  to  clear  up  the  science  of  dynamics, 
it  will  be  necessary  to  abolish  a  number  of 
useless  terms  which  now  confuse  the  subject 
and  to  establish  a  specific  meaning  for  the 
terms  retained.  To  give  authority  to  such  a 
proposition,  I  submitted  a  paper  on  the  subject 
to  the  National  Academy  of  Sciences,  at  its 
meeting  last  January;  but  the  Academy  de- 
clined to  act  upon  it,  and  informed  me  that 
the  subject  has  been  sufficiently  discussed. 

The  paper  submitted  is  as  follows: — 


AND  SHIPBUILDING.  95 

NAVY  DEPARTMENT, 
BUREAU  OF  STEAM-ENGINEERING, 

WASHINGTON,  Dec.  14,  1865 

To  the  Chairman  of  the  National  Academy  of  Sciences, 
Washington,  D.  C. 

SIR:   I  most  respectfully  request  that  you 
would   invite  the  attention  of  your  scientific 
association,  at  its  next  meeting,  to  the  enclosed 
papers  on  the  science  of  dynamics,  and  oblige, 
Yours,  most  respectfully, 
JOHN  W.  NYSTROM, 

Engineer  U.  S.  N. 


COMMUNICATION  TO  THE  NATIONAL  ACADEMY  OF 
SCIENCES,  ON  DYNAMICS. 

The  science  of  dynamics  seems  yet  to  be  in 
an  unsettled  condition,  since  students  from 
different  colleges  and  even  from  the  same  col- 
lege, are  found  to  differ  as  regards  the  true 
meaning  of  dynamical  terms;  and  our  school- 
books  seem  to  be  unnecessarily  ambiguous  on 
that  subject. 

Independently  of  the  numerous  terms  differ- 
ently applied,  the  substance  of  the  subject  is 
often  misconceived,  and  not  altogether  rightly 


96  TECHNOLOGICAL  EDUCATION 

represented.  This  want  of  order  and  perspi- 
cuity in  the  subject  is  not  at  all  due  to  intrinsic 
causes,  and  it  would  seem  that  the  science  of 
dynamics  can  be  represented  in  a  very  clear 
and  simple  form.  An  effort  to  this  effect  is 
contained  in  the  accompanying  papers. 


ON  THE  ELEMENTS  OF  DYNAMICS. 

FORCE  is  a  mutual  tendency  of  bodies  to  at- 
tract or  repel  each  other.  Its  physical  consti- 
tution is  not  yet  known.  We  only  know  its 
action,  which  is  recognized  as  pressure  and 
measured  by  weight.  The  unit  of  weight  being 
assumed  from  the  attraction  of  the  earth  upon 
a  determined  volume  of  any  specific  substance; 
for  example,  the  force  of  attraction  between 
the  earth  and  27.7  cubic  inches  .of  distilled 
water,  at  the  temperature  of  39.8°  Fah.,  in  an 
atmosphere  balancing  30  inches  of  mercury, 
at  the  level  of  the  sea — is  called  one  pound 
avoirdupois. 

Force  is  the  first  element  of  power  and  work, 
and  may  be  likened  to  length,  which  is  a  pri- 
mary element  in  geometry.  Force  will  here 
be  denoted  by  the  letter  F}  expressed  in 
pounds. 


•      AND  SHIPBUILDING.  97 

VELOCITY  is  the  second  element  of  power 
and  work,  and  may  be  likened  to  breadth  in 
geometry.  It  is  that  continued  change  of  po- 
sition recognized  as  motion,  and  is  here  denoted 
by  the  letter  F,  expressed  in  feet  per  second. 
Velocity  is  a  simple  element,  although  it  ap- 
pears to  be  dependent  on  time  and  space,  but 
the  space  is  divided  by  the  time,  and  therefore 
both  eliminated  from  the  velocity. 

TIME  is  the  third  element  of  work,  and  may 
be  likened  to  thickness  in  geometry.  It  im- 
plies a  continuous  action  recognized  as  dura- 
tion. Time  is  here  denoted  by  the  letter  T, 
expressed  in  seconds. 

POWEE  is  a  function  of  the  first  two  elements 
— force  F,  and  velocity  F, — as  area  in  geometry 
is  a  function  of  length  and  breadth.  Power  is 
here  denoted  by  P=F  F,  which  means  that 
the  power  P  is  the  product  of  the  force  F  mul- 
tiplied by  the  velocity  F.  The  power  so  ob- 
tained is  expressed  in  foot-pounds,  and  called 
dynamic  effect,  of  which  there  are  550  in  a 
horse-power;  or,  if  the  velocity  is  measured 
in  feet  per  minute,  there  will  be  33,000  foot- 
pounds in  a  horse-power.  Power  is  independ- 
ent of  space  and  time,  but  it  has  often  been 
confounded  with  work,  which  essentially  de- 
pends on  time  and  space. 
9 


98  TECHNOLOGICAL  EDUCATION 

SPACE  is  a  function  of  the  second  and  third 
elements — velocity  F,  and  time  2\ — and  may 
be  likened  to  a  cross-section  of  a  solid,  which 
is  a  function  of  breadth  and  thickness.  Space 
is  here  denoted  by  S=  V  T,  which  means  that 
the  space  S  is  the  product  of  the  velocity  V 
and  the  time  T,  expressed  in  linear  feet. 

WORK  is  a  function  of  the  three  elements — 
force  F,  velocity  V,  and  time  T.  It  may  be 
likened  to  a  solid  in  geometry  which  has  the 
three  dimensions,  length,  breadth,  and  thick- 
ness. Work  is  here  denoted  by  K=F  V  T, 
which  means  that  the  work  Kis  the  product 
obtained  by  multiplying  together  the  three 
elements — force  F,  velocity  F,  and  time  T. 

Work  may  be  denoted  by  K  =  F  S,  or  the 
product  of  the  force  F  multiplied  by  the  space 
S,  where  it  appears  as  if  the  work  was  inde- 
pendent of  time,  but  the  time  is  included  in 
the  space  S  =  F  T. 

Work  may  also  be  denoted  by  K=  P  T, 
which  means  the  power  P  multiplied  by  the 
time  jP.  Either  of  the  three  cases  expresses 
the  work  in  foot-pounds. 

Force,  velocity,  and  time  are  simple  physical 
elements. 

Power,  space,  and  work  are  functions  or 
products  of  those  elements. 


AND  SHIPBUILDING.  99 

It  appears  that  F  V  T  is  the  mathematical 
definition  of  a  trinity  of  physical  elements 
which  governs  the  -material  universe.  All 
acj|jon  of  whatever  kind,  whether  mechanical, 
chemical,  or  derived  from  light,  heat,  electricity, 
or  magnetism ;  all  that  has  been,  and  is  to  be 
done  or  undone,  is  comprehended  by  this  triume 
function,  F  VT.  It  is  omnipotent,  ubiquitous, 
and  eternal. 

I  am,  at  present,  stationed  in  the  Bureau  of 
Steam-Engineering  of  the  U.  S.  Navy  Depart- 
ment, where  occasions  have  often  arisen  to 
discuss  the  subject  of  dynamics  with  naval  en- 
gineers, some  of  whom  have  studied  Moseley's, 
Bartletfs,  or  WeisebacKs  Mechanics ;  and  yet 
most  of  them  not  only  differ  with  me,  but  also 
disagree  amongst  themselves  regarding  the 
precise  meaning  of  dynamical  terms.  They 
all  seem  to  agree  that  time  is  included  in  power, 
but  that  time  is  not  included  in  work.  Their 
argument  runs  thus :  "  The  unit  of  power  is 
"  33,000  Ibs.,  lifted  one  foot  per  minute,  whilst  • 
"  the  unit  of  work  is  one  pound  lifted  one  foot, 
" independent  of  time"  Some  of  them  do  not 
recognize  the  term  power,  and  say  that  power 
is  work  done  in  a  certain  time. 

My  own  argument  is,  that  space  is  the  pro- 
duct of  time  and  velocity ;  and  when  we  say 
per  minute  or  per  any  unit  of  time  in  the  ex- 


100  TECHNOLOGICAL  EDUCATION 

pression  of  horse-power,  meaning  a  force  of  so 
many  pounds  raised  so  many  feet  in  a  given 
tirrie,  we  divide  the  space  by  the  time,  and  the 
result  is  only  force  and  velocity,  the  time  beiiig 
eliminated,  as  appears  in  the  formulas  follow- 
ing. 

The  popular  expression  of  power  is  — 


But  when  S=VT 

we  have  P  -  FVT  =  p  yt 

or  T  disappearing,  and  power  thus  contains  no 
time. 

Work  is  generally  known  to  be  the  ope- 
ration of  raising  a  given  weight  to  a  given 
height,  as  a  force  passing  through  a  given 
space.  But  this  height  or  space  cannot  be 
attained  without  time  and  velocity  —  its  consti- 
tuent elements  —  as  before  stated. 

The  popular  conception  of  work  is 


but  when 

S 
we  have 

K=F  VT, 
or  time  is  one  element  in  work. 

I  am  the  author  of  a  pocket-book  of  mechanics 
and  engineering,  of  which  a  copy  accompanies 


AND  SHIPBUILDING.  101 

this  paper.  This  book  is  now  to  be  found  in 
most  parts  of  the  civilized  world.  It  was 
compiled  when  I  was  a  boy,  and  as  soon  as 
time  and  means  will  allow,  it  is  my  intention 
to  rearrange  the  whole  book,  adding  much 
valuable  matter  which  has  not  heretofore  ap- 
peared in  print,  and  putting  the  subject  of 
dynamics  into  some  kind  of  standard  form. 
But  before  so  doing,  I  wish  to  consult  the 
National  Academy  of  Sciences  as  to  what  dy- 
namical terms  are  to  be  accepted  as  proper. 
The  first  question  stands  thus — 

Elements?  Functions? 

Force  =  F?  Power  P=F  V? 
Velocity  -  V?  Space  S—  VT? 
Time  =  T?  Work  K=F  VT? 

Is  it  right  to  consider  F,  V,  and  T  as  ele- 
ments ? 

Is  it  right  to  denominate  P,  S,  and  K  func- 
tions ? 

Are  power  P,  space  S,  and  work  K,  com- 
posed, as  indicated  by  the  above  formulas  ? 

In  chemistry  the  combination  of  simple  ele- 
ments is  called  "a  compound."  By  what  corre- 
sponding term  can  we  denominate  the  combi- 
nation of  physical  elements  ? 

In  mathematics  a  function  is  called  any 
9* 


102  TECHNOLOGICAL  EDUCATION 

quantity  obtained  by  whatever  process  or  ope- 
ration indicated  by  a  formula.  Accordingly 
a  simple  element  might  be  called  a  function, 
although  it  is  self-evident  that  a  simple  ele- 
ment by  itself  cannot  be  considered  a  function. 

or 

When  V=jf,,  can  we  not  say  that  the  function 
S is  resolved  into  its  elements? 


Let  a  constant  force  F,  act  on  a  body  of 
weight  TF,  in  the  direction  of  the  arrow.  F 
and  W  being  measured  by  the  same  unit  of 
weight,  and  no  other  force  acting  on  W;  then 
we  know  that  the  acceleratrix  of  the  force  F 
will  be  — 


- 

•  w 

when  g  =  32.166,  the  acceleratrix  of  the  force  of 
gravity  at  the  surface  of  the  earth. 

Let  the  force  F  act  for  any  length  of  time 
T,  then  we  know  from  the  law  of  gravity,  that 
the  velocity  attained  will  be  — 
V=  GT. 

Let  v  denote  the  velocity  at  any  time  t,  then 
the  power  in  operation  will  be  — 


AND  SHIPBUILDING.  103 

and  the  differential  work  will  be 

but 

v=  Gt 
and 

dK=FGtdt, 
the  work 

FGt3 


2 

Let   the  work  be  integrated  from  t  =  o  to 
have — 

FGT*  . 

K=-  r— >          .        .        .        1 


which  are  the  three  forms   of  work   accom- 
plished by  the  force  F  acting  on  a  body  W. 

•    We  know  that  F=  -  ,      which  inserted 

9 

in  the  above  formulas,  will  give  the  same  work, 
expressed  by  the  weight  of  the  moving  body. 


9 
WG-VT 


104:  TECHNOLOGICAL  EDUCATION 

These  formulas  give  the  three  forms  of  work 
concentrated  in  a  moving  body  W.  We  have 
thus  six  different  formulas  expressing  the 
same  work  K.  Cannot  this  work  be  denomi- 
nated by  one  generic  term  ? 

The  case  is  the  same  for  all  circular  motion, 

where  F=-4?r^      r=  radius  of  gyration» 
oU 

n=  revolutions  per  minute. 

Vis-viva,  or  living  force,  expressed  by  AT  F2, 
seems  to  be  the  most  unfortunate  term  in 
dynamics,  as  it  has  caused  so  much  controversy 
and  confusion.  When  H  means  the  mass  of  a 
moving  body,  the  term  M  V2  represents  double 
the  work  concentrated  therein^  the  true  work 
being  that  represented  by  formula  six.  17s- 
viva  is,  therefore,  substantially  the  same  as 
work.  In  fact,  if  vis-viva  means  living  force, 
there  is  no  more  vis-viva  in  a  moving  mass  than 
in  one  at  rest,  and  therefore  it  does  not  express 
what  it  means.  It  requires  F  F^Tand  nothing 
else  to  set  a  body  in  motion.  It  requires  FVT 
and  nothing  else  to  bring  a  moving  body  to 
rest.  It  is  F  V  T  and  nothing  else  that  can 
change  the  motion  of  a  body.  F  being  an 
external  force,  equal  to  the  force  of  inertia  in 
the  moving  body.  I  would,  therefore,  pro- 


AND  SHIPBUILDING.  105 

pose  to  reject  the  term  vis-viva  in  its  present 
acceptation  in  dynamics. 

In  the  estimate  of  foot-pounds  of  power,  I 
have  made  a  deviation  from  Watt's  rule.  The 
unit  33,000  pounds  raised  one  foot  per  minute 
I  think  is  very  unnatural.  A  velocity  of  only 
one  foot  per  minute  cannot  be  clearly  con- 
ceived; it  is  only  0.2  or  £  of  an  inch  per 
second,  the  velocity  of  a  snail;  on  the  other 
hand  the  weight  of  33,000  pounds,  or  about  15 
tons,  is  too  large,  and  very  few  can  form  a  clear 
conception  of  its  magnitude.  A  horse  cannot 
lift  directly  a  weight  of  15  tons ;  the  ordinary 
pull  of  a  horse  is  200  to  300  pounds,  and  a 
horse  cart-load  is  about  one  ton.  Therefore  it 
is  my  humble  opinion  that  the  foot-pounds  of 
power  ought  to  be  brought  nearer  the  ordi- 
nary performance  of  a  horse,  or  one  pound 
lifted  one  foot  per  second  as  a  foot-pound,  of 
which  there  will  be  550  foot-pounds  per  horse 
power.  A  velocity  of  one  foot  per  second  is 
conceivable,  and  550  pounds  can  be  lifted  by  a 
horse.  This  kind  of  foot-pounds  is  used  in 
most  parts  of  Europe.  The  Swedish  horse- 
power is  600,  and  the  German  513  foot-pounds. 

Would  it  not,  therefore,  for  the  reason  stated, 
be  better  to  call  a  horse-power  550  foot-pounds, 
instead  of  33,000?  Would  it  not  be  well,  also, 


106  TECHNOLOGICAL  EDUCATION 

to  establish  an  additional  unit  for  work?  One 
pound  raised  a  space  of  one  foot  is  called  one 
unit  of  work,  by  which  the  labor  a  man  is  capa- 
ble of  performing  in  a  day,  will  be  represented 
in  millions.  The  power  of  an  ordinary  man  is 
about  fifty  pounds  raised  with  a  velocity  of  one 
foot  per  second,  which  will  amount  to  between 
one  and  two  millions  of  foot-pounds  of  work  in 
one  day. 

Let  us  assume  the  work  accomplished  by  one 
horse-power  in  a  time  of  one  hour  to  be  a  unit 
for  physical  work ;  which  will  be  the  same  as 
that  of  eleven  men  working  one  hour,  or  that 
of  one  man  working  one  day  of  eleven  hours. 
In  order  to  clearly  distinguish  this  unit  from 
that  of  power,  let  it  be  called  a  workmanday, 
which  means  a  man's  day's  work. 

A  workmanday  expressed  in  force  and  space 
will  be  550x3600=1,980,000  foot-pounds. 

All  kinds  of  work  can  be  estimated  in  work- 
mandays,  such  as  building  a  house,  steamboat, 
or  a  bridge,  digging  a  canal,  ploughing  the 
ground,  steam-boiler  and  gunpowder  explo- 
sions, the  capacity  of  heavy  ordnance,  &c.  &c. 

Would  it  be  proper,  then,  to  introduce  such 
unit  as  this  for  work? 

The  National  Academy  of  Sciences  declined 
to  answer  the  foregoing  questions  at  the  time, 


AND  SHIPBUILDING.  107 

and  as  I  do  not  feel  disposed  to  lay  the  subject 
aside,  have  now  published  the  same  in  my 
Pocket-Book  of  Mechanics  and  Engineering, 
and  hope  the  Academy  of  Sciences,  at  its  conve- 
nience, will  give  me  the  benefit  of  its  criticisms. 

The  attention  of  our  scientific  men  seems  to 
be  wholly  absorbed  in  the  polarized  light,  the 
compound  microscope,  and  spectrum  analysis; 
which  indeed  are  very  interesting  subjects,  and 
we  hope  may  ultimately  lead  to  the  revelation  of 
the  physical  constitution  of  light,  heat,  and 
force,  and  thereby  relieve  us  from  our  present 
method  of  generating  power  by  means  of  the 
cumbrous  steam-boiler.  But  they  have  gone 
so  far  and  deeply  into  the  sciences  that  they 
have  left  us  practical  engineers  far  behind,  toil- 
ing in  the  dark,  and  when  we  hail  them  we 
receive  no  answer. 

If  we  could  only  succeed  in  bringing  steam- 
engineering  under  the  compound  microscope, 
or  if  it  would  produce  a  line  in  the  spectrum, 
it  might  be  profoundly  analyzed  by  our  scien- 
tific professors.  But  although  our  naval  engi- 
neering was  magnified  some  thirty  millions  ($  ?) 
in  the  case  of  the  light  draft  monitors,  a  certain 
Fox  was  not  detected  in  it,  whilst  in  the  spec- 
trum he  could  not  possible  have  escaped  making 
a  line. 


108  TECHNOLOGICAL  EDUCATION 

In  a  period  when  steam-engineering  is  not 
considered  sufficiently  important,  or  is  not 
sufficiently  advanced,  for  the  Corps  of  Naval 
Engineers  to  be  worthy  to  be  represented  in 
the  National  Academy  of  Sciences,  we  cannot 
expect  the  members  of  such  an 'Academy  to  be 
familiar  with,  or  to  appreciate  what  is  wanted 
in  the  practical  operation  of  machinery,  with 
which  they  have  no  connection. 

The  science  of  dynamics  is  represented  in  its 
simple  form  in  the  tenth  edition  of  Nystrom's 
Pocket  Book,  but  the  space  is  there  so  crowded 
that  it  does  not  admit  of  full  explanation  with 
illustrations. 

About  a  year  ago,  when  I  told  Captain  Fox 
that  I  had  some  valuable  matter  on  hand 
which  would  be  useful  for  the  naval  engineer 
cadets,  he  answered,  "If  you  have  anything 
"  new,  you  just  take  out  a  patent  for  it ;  we  have 
"  a  patent  office  for  that  purpose." 

Captain  Fox  then  also  told  me  about  what 
Democratic  Governments  do  not  do,  and  what 
Monarchical  Governments  do  do,  very  much  in 
the  style  of  his  previous  observation. 

I  wish  Captain  Fox  to  know  that  I  believe 
myself  to  have  a  better  opinion  of  a  Democratic 
or  Republican  form  of  Government  than  lie  has. 
My  humble  proposition  had  nothing  whatever 
to  do  with  the  form  of  Government.  Captain 


AND  SHIPBUILDING.  109 

Fox,  however,  left  the  impression  on  me  that 
his  ideas  about  Monarchical  Governments  are 
what  he  has  learned  in  Shakspeare,  and  as  it 
was  in  Europe  a  hundred  years  ago. 

The  Navy  Department  is  now  attempting  to 
reorganize  the  Corps  of  Naval  Engineers. 
Captain  Fox  tries  his  best  to  subordinate  the 
engineers  to  the  Line  Officers,  and  the  engineers 
in  the  Department  strain  their  efforts  to  secure 
rank  and  position,  all  with  self-interest  in  view, 
but  no  proposition  seems  to  be  offered  to  pre- 
pare the  new  corps  of  engineers  (by  receiving 
the  proper  learning)  to  maintain  with  dignity 
whatever  rank  and  position  may  be  assigned 
to  it.  Give  the  corps  a  thorough  technological 
education,  and  it  will  become  able  to  take  care 
of  itself  respecting  rank  and  position ;  for  in 
the  present  feeble  conception  of  the  value  and 
importance  of  mechanical  skill  and  of  the 
range  of  knowledge  in  steam-engineering  pre- 
valent in  the  Navy  Department,  it  is  useless  to 
argue  about  questions  of  rank,  position,  and 
responsibility  of  the  corps  of  engineers. 

The  Washington  Navy  Yard  contains  a  very 
extensive  mechanical  establishment  for  -the 
building  of  marine  engines  and  boilers,  the 
superintendence  of  which  is  now  intrusted  to  a 
mechanic  brought  up  in  that  place,  and  with 
10 


110  TECHNOLOGICAL  EDUCATION 

no  further  scientific  education.  However  ac- 
complished this  mechanic  might  be  in  his 
limited  profession,  he  cannot  possibly  fulfil  the 
requirements  of  such  an  establishment  in  con- 
nection with  the  different  mechanic  arts  and 
sciences  which  it  involves;  neither  can  he 
command  the  respect  requisite  in  the  proper 
execution  of  such  a  responsible  office. 

These  remarks  were  made  in  the  Navy  De- 
partment, and  were  answered  thus:  "All  the 
drawings  are  made  here  in  minute  details,  and 
there  is  no  more  knowledge  necessary  in  the 
yard  than  to  follow  the  drawings." 

Such  expressions  of  disregard  for  the  know- 
ledge required  in  the  execution  of  work  were 
frequently  met  with. 

The  Navy  Department,  where  the  drawings 
are  made,  is  some  three  miles  from  the  yard 
where  the  work  is  executed.  The  chief 
draughtsman  visits  the  works  perhaps  once  a 
•week,  and  remains  there  an  hour  or  two,  which 
is  considered  a  sufficient  connection  between 
the  drawing-room  and  the  workshops.  The 
absurdity  of  this  arrangement  can  well  be  con- 
ceived, for  we  know  by  experience,  in  well- 
regulated  establishments,  that  for  the  proper 
execution  of  the  drawings,  in  regard  to  economy 


AND  SHIPBUILDING.  Ill 

and  utility  in  the  work,  the  draughtsman  re- 
quires constant  access  to  the  patterns,  pattern- 
shop,  and  to  the  different  branches  of  the  es- 
tablishment ;  and  that  there  is  constant  con- 
sultation going  on  between  the  draughtsmen 
and  the  foremen  in  these  different  branches. 

In  Washington  these  parties  are  separated 
by  a  distance  of  several  miles,  in  consequence  of 
which  the  character  of  the  design,  the  economy 
and  the  progress  of  the  work,  suffer  consider- 
ably. However  able  or  talented  draughtsmen 
or  engineers  may  be  when  entering  the  Navy 
Department,  they  will  soon  be  spoiled,  which  is 
readily  evinced  in  their  fancy  design  of  ma- 
chinery with  mouldings  and  ornaments,  not  to 
be  found  nowadays  outside  the  Bureau  of 
Steam-Engineering. 

These  draughtsmen,  I  believe,  are  all  En- 
gineers in  the  Corps,  and  seem  to  display  a 
goodly  array  of  talent.  Many  of  them  have 
received  collegiate  educations,  are  accomplished 
mathematicians,  and  well  versed  in  the  physical 
sciences,  but  for  want  of  a  technological  educa- 
tion, they  are  naturally  deficient  in  the  applica- 
tion of  their  scientific  knowledge;  and  much  of 
what  they  would  be  able  to  apply  and  cultivate, 
cannot  be  utilized  when  thus  separated  from 


112  TECHNOLOGICAL  EDUCATION 

the  field  where  the  seed  of  their  education 
ought  to  be  planted. 

The  Navy  Department  is  now  about  to  pump 
steam-engineering  into  Line  Officers  at  the  Na- 
val Academy,  Annapolis,  and  to  make  engine- 
drivers  (as  they  call  it)  out  of  ensigns,  masters, 
and  midshipmen,  by  sending  them  to  sea,  and 
having  them  stand  watch  in  the  engine-room  ; 
by  which  means  it  is  expected  to  make  steam- 
engineers  in  the  space  of  two  years!  How  easy 
the  Navy  Department  must  think  steam-en- 
gineering to  be!  This  mode  of  making  steam- 
engineers  is  surely  the  greatest  invention  of 
the  age;  and  Captain  Fox,  the  ostensible  au- 
thor of  it,  had  better  take  out  a  patent  for  that 
bubble  before  it  bursts;  "we  have  a  patent 
office  for  that  purpose." 

During  the  war  Captain  Fox  kept  in  his 
room  models  of  machinery  and  vessels  sub- 
mitted by  civilians  to  the  Navy  Department. 
He  decided  what  was  to  be  done  and  not  to  be 
done  in  questions  of  naval  engineering.  He 
undertook  to  superintend  the  construction  of 
vessels  in  the  Bureau  of  Construction.  He 
selected  models  for  the  constructors  to  make 
drawings  of. 

Now,  for  the  sake  of  argument,  let  us  sup- 
pose that  Captain  Fox  is,  by  nature,  gifted  with 


AND  SHIPBUILDING.  113 

a  peculiar  faculty  which  enables  him  to  guess 
which  model  of  vessel  is  best  for  a  desired 
purpose.  A  vessel  is  built  from  that  model, 
and  proves  to  be  satisfactory  or  not.  Neither 
Captain  Fox  nor  the  constructors  in  the  navy 
are  yet  able  to  judge  or  record  the  peculiarities 
of  that  vessel,  in  form  of  scientific  arguments, 
why  it  did  or  did  not  come  up  to  what  was 
anticipated.  In  case  it  proved  to  be  a  good 
vessel,  there  might  still  never  be  another  one 
built  like  it,  and  Captain  Fox's  superintendence 
will  thus  only  satisfy  his  own  personal  ambition, 
without  leaving  recorded  and  permanent  results 
for  the  future  benefit  of  the  navy. 

Now  if  Captain  Fox  had  allowed  the  intro- 
duction of  the  science  of  shipbuilding  into  the 
Department,  the  achievements  of  his  own  talent 
'might  have  been  recorded  and  perpetuated  for 
the  benefit  of  the  country. 

In  my  humble  judgment,  I  believe  Mr.  Len- 
thal  has  attained  great  perfection  in  the  con- 
struction of  ships,  for  which  reason  I  was  very 
anxious  to  give  his  lines  a  scientific  investiga- 
tion, but  he  would  not  allow  me  to  see  his  best 
drawings.  The  ship's  drawings  intrusted  to 
me  in  the  Department,  through  the  request  of 
Mr.  Isherwood,  for  information  required  in  the 
Bureau  of  Steam-Engineering,  were  of  some 
10* 


1 14  TECHNOLOGICAL  EDUCATION 

twelve  different  vessels,  of  which  only  two  were 
of  Mr.  Lenthal's  construction.  It  appeared  that 
Mr.  Lenthal  would  not  allow  me  to  explore  his 
late  ships'  drawings,  even  at  the  request  of 
Mr.  Isherwood.  The  engineers  in  the  Depart- 
ment are  not  allowed  to  see  the  ship's  draw- 
ings, except  through  the  kindness  of  some 
clerks,  who,  in  Mr.  Lenthal's  absence,  ran  the 
risk  of  letting  some  of  them  be  seen.  I  did 
not  avail  myself  of  such  an  opportunity,  for 
although  I  have  the  highest  regard  for  Mr. 
Lenthal  as  a  constructor  and  shipbuilder,  his 
drawings  would  not  warrant  such  a  proceeding 
on  my  part. 

The  engineers  in  the  Department  generally 
evince  a  strong  appetite  for  learning,  and  when 
I  received  some  few  old  ships'  drawings  from 
the  Bureau  of  Construction,  they  generally 
surrounded  them  with  a  manifest  anxiety  to 
gather  information,  and  remarked  that  "it 
"  must  have  broken  Mr.  Lenthal's  heart  to  have 
"given  these  drawings  out  of  his  office." 

In  case  it  were  the  policy  of  the  Government 
to  keep  their  ships'  drawings  secret  from  a  de- 
sire to  promote  the  interest  of  the  country,  I 
would  heartily  acquiesce;  but  it  is  a  question 
of  considerable  importance  whether  such  a 


AND  SHIPBUILDING.  115 

policy  would  not  act  detrimentally  rather  than 
otherwise. 

If  a  knowledge  of  shipbuilding  is  to  be  re- 
stricted only  to  a  chosen  few  constructors  in 
the  navy,  it  would  be  by  a  rare  accident  'only 
that  those  of  adequate  capacity  would  be  hit 
upon,  while  if  thrown  generally  open,  it  would 
scarcely  fail  to  reach  many  whose  talent  in  that 
particular  would  be  unquestionable. 

In  reality,  this  attempt  at  secrecy  is  a  folly, 
for  in  view  of  the  conspicuous  enterprise  and 
fertility  of  the  American  mind,  we  need  not 
fear  to  be  behind  the  time  by  a  liberal  diffusion 
of  useful  knowledge,  for  unless  we  sow,  there 
can  be  no  harvest. 

The  farther  we  look  back  on  the  art  of  ship- 
building, the  more  secret  it  appears  to  have  been 
kept,  until,  at  the  present  time,  some  of  our  first 
shipbuilders  not  only  freely  expose  their  draw- 
ings to  observation,  but  even  allow  them  to  be 
published. 

The  lines  of  the  fastest  and  best  of  the  Eu- 
ropean steamers,  namely,  the  "Persia,"  and 
others,  are  published  in  McKensy's  Shipbuild- 
ing, and  those  of  the  "Scotia"  also  are  published 
in  Scott  Russel's  work. 

The  sloop  of  war  of  the  Wampanoag  class, 
intended  for  great  speed,  we  have  reason  to 


116  TECHNOLOGICAL  EDUCATION 

suppose,  have  the  most  perfect  lines  of  the  day, 
which,  in  connection  with  their  intended  great 
propelling  power,  afford  a  very  interesting  field 
for  scientific  investigation,  the  result  of  which 
might  be  of  great  value  to  the  Corps  of  En- 
gineers, but  will  now  probably  be  lost  to  them 
through  a  personal  jealousy. 

This  jealousy  is  by  no  means  limited  to  the 
Navy  Department,  but  is  met  with  in  all  direc- 
tions, and  frequently  intercepts  scientific  in- 
quiry. It  is  an  epidemic  disease  which  can  be 
cured  only  by  technological  education. 

*  Once,  in  a  scientific  meeting,  efforts  to  ex- 
plain the  science  of  steamboiler  explosions,  and 
how  to  prevent  the  same,  were  silenced  by  the 
president  of  the  meeting  calling  me  to  the  chair 
and  whispering,  "Don't  say  anything  about 
"  boiler  explosions."  The  discussion  was  ac- 
cordingly dropped  and  lost. 

An  explanation  of  the  cause  of  steamboiler 
explosions  is  a  question  demonstrably  within 
the  reach  of  science,  as  much  so  as  a  problem 
of  geome*?ry. 

In  many  cases  explosions  are  indicated  a 
long  time  before  they  occur,  and  could  be  easily 
prevented.  The  terrible  explosion  on  board 
the  steamer  Sultana,  on  the  Mississippi,  and  a 
great  many  other  similar  disasters,  were  indi- 


AND  SHIPBUILDING.  117 

cated  several  hours  before  they  occurred,  all  of 
which  could  have  been  prevented,  and  a  great 
number  of  lives  saved. 


ON  STEAM-BOILER  EXPLOSIONS. 

It  has  hereinbefore  been  explained  what  is 
meant  by  work,  namely,  the  product  of  the  three 
simple  physical  elements  force  F,  velocity  V,  and 
time  T,  or  work 

K=FVT.  .    1 

The  heat  required  to  elevate  the  temperature 
of  one  pound  of  water  one  degree  Fah.  is  as- 
sumed to  be  one  unit  of  heat,  and  found  to  be 
equivalent  to  the  dynamic  effect  of  772  foot- 
pounds ;  or  one  unit  of  heat  can  raise  772  pounds 
one  foot,  or  one  pound  to  a  height  of  772  feet. 

The  heat  in  the  steam  and  water  in  a  steam- 
boiler  is  equivalent  to  such  a  proportion  of 
work,  or  the  steam-boiler  is  a  reservoir  of  work 
which  is  generally  dealt  out  in  homoeopathic 
doses  to  work  a  steam-engine.  But  when  the 
entire  stored  work,  K=FVT,  is  suddenly 
started,  as  in  the  case  of  the  bursting  of  a  boiler, 
the  steam  and  water  in  the  form  of  a  foam,  im- 
pelled by  the  heat,  performs  a  proportionate 


118  TECHNOLOGICAL  EDUCATION 

destruction  in  the  explosion,  the  force  of  which 
will  be 


From  this  formula  we  see  that  the  less  time 
occupied  by  the  explosion  the  greater  will  the 
force  be,  or  if  the  time  is  infinitely  small,  the 
force  of  the  explosion  will  be  infinitely  great. 

It  has  been  assumed  that  explosive  gases  are 
sometimes  formed  in  steam-boilers,  which  cause 
explosions;  but  the  concentrated  work  in  the 
steam  and  water  is  amply  sufficient  to  perform 
the  destruction  without  the  aid  of  any  further 
explosive  gas. 


DESTRUCTIVE  WORK  OF  STEAM-BOILER  EXPLOSION. 

When  steam-boiler  explosions  take  place,  the 
inclosed  water  is  resolved  into  one  volume  of 
boiling  hot  water,  and  one  volume  of  steam,  as 
follows : — 

Notation  of  Letters  Prior  to  Explosion. 

W'  =  total  weight  in  pounds  of  the  water 
in  the  boiler  under  full  steam  pressure. 


AND  SHIPBUILDING.  119 

wf  =  pounds  of  water  evaporated  in  the  ex- 
plosion. 

h  =  units  of  heat  per  pound  in  the  water  W. 

11=  units  of  heat  per  pound  in  the  steam  of 
pressure  P. 

H'  =  units  of  heat  per  cubic  foot  in  the 
steam  P. 

P  =  pressure  of  steam  in  pounds  per  square 
inch. 

V  =  volume  coefficient  of  steam. 

Then  the  water  evaporated  in  the  explosion 
will  be 


82.8 

The  destructive  work  K  of  the   explosion 
will  be  in  foot-pounds. 


-1.6848298)        ...        4 

By  exemplifying  this  formula,  it  will  be 
found  what  an  enormous  destructive  energy 
there  exists  in  steam-boilers. 

For  values  of  the  letters,  and  also  examples, 
see  Nystrom's  Pocket-Book,  tenth  edition. 

When  the  steam  pressure  in  any  part  of  a 
boiler  is  suddenly  removed,  the  entire  work 
concentrated  therein  is  started  with  a  violence 


120  TECHNOLOGICAL  EDUCATION 

proportioned  to  the  removed  pressure,  and 
the  steam  and  water,  in  the  form  of  a  foam, 
strike  the  sides  of  the  boiler,  by  which  the 
work  is  suddenly  arrested.  If  the  time  of 
arresting  the  work  is  infinitely  small,  we  see 
from  the  formula  2,  that  the  force  of  the  work 
will  be  infinitely  great,  and  thus  the  boiler  ex- 
plodes. 

The  sudden  removal  of  pressure,  which  in- 
variably leads  to  the  explosion,  is  derived  either 
from  bursting  or  by  collapse  of  some  part  of  the 
steam-boiler;  for  instance: — 

1st.  By  long  use  boilers  become  corroded 
and  give  way  in  some  unexpected  place,  which 
ought  to  have  been  detected  by  inspection,  or 
in  cleaning. 

2d.  The  general  construction  with  staying 
and  bracing  of  steam-boilers  is  often  very  care- 
lessly executed  and  results  in  explosion.  This 
kind  of  explosion  is  often  indicated,  long 
before  the  accident  occurs,  by  leakage  of  the 
boiler ;  when  the  engineer,  not  suspecting  the 
approaching  danger,  limits  his  remedies  gene- 
rally at  efforts  to  stop  the  leak.  The  leakage 
from  bad  calking  or  packing  is  easily  distin- 
guished from  that  of  bad  or  insufficient  bracing. 
In  the  latter  case  the  fire  ought  to  be  hauled  out, 
the  steam  blown  off  very  slowly  and  carefully, 


AND  SHIPBUILDING.  121 

so  as  to  make  as  little  disturbance  in  the  work 
as  possible,  or  it  would  be  safest  to  work  off 
most  of  the  steam  by  the  engine;  after  which 
the  boiler  should  be  secured  by  proper  bracing.* 

*  TERRIBLE  STEAMBOAT  DISASTER. — Memphis,  March  5. 
The  R.  J.  Loci-wood,  bound  from  New  Orleans  to  St.  Louis> 
exploded,  about  seven  o'clock  last  evening,  while  eighteen 
miles  below  this  city,  and  afterwards  burned  until  she 
sunk.  She  was  inspected  at  New  Orleans  on  last  Wednes- 
day, and  pronounced  seaworthy.  After  running  a  day  or 
two  her  boilers  were  discovered  to  be  in  a  leaky  condition. 
Captain  Howard  proposed  to  the  engineer  to  stop  at  Helena 
and  repair,  but  the  engineer  thought  it  unnecessary  until 
the  boat  should  arrive  at  Memphis.  Thus  the  delay 
proved  fatal.  The  explosion  tore  away  the  cabin  as  far 
back  as  the  centre,  killing  twenty  persons  instantly,  and 
scalding,  wounding,  or  otherwise  injuring  about  twenty- 
five  others.  Fortunately  the  At.  S.  Mepham  was  coming 
down  at  the  time,  and  rendered  most  timely  aid  to  the 
distressed  passengers  and  officers  of  the  boat.  As  the 
Lockwood  caught  fire  immediately,  the  Mepham  rounded 
to  and  landed  her  bow  against  the  stern  of  the  ill-fated 
steamer,  thus  saving  every  person  not  killed  by  the  ex- 
plosion. 

A  number  of  cabin  passengers,  crew,  cooks,  and  negro 
firemen  were  lost ;  but  their  names  are  not  known.  All 
the  lady  passengers,  besides  the  two  chambermaids,  were 
saved.  I  think  the  number  of  killed  amounts  to  forty 
or  fifty,  as  survivors  state  there  were  a  number  of  deck 
hands  and  deck  passengers  on  the  lower  deck,  who  were 
killed  by  the  explosion,  and  whose  names  are  unknown. 
— St.  Louis  Republican. 
11 


122  TECHNOLOGICAL  EDUCATION 

3d.  Explosions  are  sometimes  caused  from 
low  water  in  the  boiler,  but  more  rarely  than 
generally  supposed.  When  the  fire-crown  and 
tubes  are  subjected  to  a  strong  heat  and  not 
covered  with  water,  the  steam  does  not  ab- 
sorb the  heat  fast  enough  to  prevent  the  iron 
from  becoming  too  hot  so  that  it  cannot  with- 
stand the  pressure,  but  softens  and  collapses. 
Sometimes,  when  the  boiler  bursts,  the  tubes 
and  flues  may  also  collapse  by  the  force  of  ex- 
plosion, when  it  has  been  erroneously  supposed 
that  the  explosion  was  caused  from  such  col- 
lapse. 

4th.  Steam-boilers  often  burst  by  strain  in 
uneven  expansion  or  shrinkage,  occasioned  by 
the  fire  being  too  quickly  lighted  or  extin- 
guished. Explosions  of  this  kind  frequently 
occur  on  Saturday  nights  or  Monday  morn- 
ings, or  before  or  after  a  holiday.  The  reason 
for  this  is,  that  on  Saturday  nights  the  engi- 
neer generally  puts  out  the  fire  too  quickly 
in  his  haste  to  go  home,  by  which  the  most 
heated  part  of  the  boiler  is  too  suddenly 

Cases  of  this  kind  are  occurring  over  and  over  again. 
It  is  perfectly  clear  that  the  engineer  on  the  steamer  Lock- 
wood  did  not  understand  the  character  of  the  leak,  and 
he  was  most  probably  unfamiliar  with  the  rudiments  of 
the  operating  natural  principles  involved  in  the  subject. 


AND  SHIPBUILDING.  123 

cooled,  and  may  burst  in  too  rapidly  shrinking. 
On  Monday  mornings  the  engineer  may  be 
late,  and  in  his  hurry  to  get  up  steam  in 
time,  throws  in  dry  shavings  or  wood  which 
heats  the  flues  or  tubes  in  the  boiler  too 
rapidly  whilst  other  parts  remains  cool,  when 
the  unequal  expansion  thus  occasioned  may 
strain  some  parts  sufficiently  to  burst,  and 
explosion  follows. 

Throughout  the  week  the  fire  is  not  hauled 
out  but  tossed  against  the  bridge  and  fresh 
coal  thrown  on  the  top  of  it  in  the  evenings, 
where  it  will  remain  and  keep  the  boiler  hot 
until  started  for  work  the  next  morning. 

5th.  It  is  a  very  bad  practice  to  make  boiler 
ends  of  cast  iron,  composed  of  a  flat  disk  of 
from  two  to  three  inches  thick,  with  a  flange  of 
from  one  to  two  inches  thick  with  cast  rivet- 
holes.  The  first  shrinkage  in  the  cooling  of 
such  a  plate  causes  a  great  strain,  which  is  in- 
creased by  riveting  the  boiler  to  it.  Any  sud- 
den change  of  temperature,  therefore,  either  in 
starting  or  putting  out  the  fire,  might  crack  the 
plate  and  thus  occasion  an  explosion.  Such 
accident  may  be  avoided  by  making  the  cast- 
iron  ends  concave  and  of  even  thickness. 

6th.  In  cold  weather,  when  the  boilers  have 
been  at  rest  for  some  time,  they  may  be  frozen 


124  TECHNOLOGICAL  EDUCATION 

full  of  ice,  then  when  the  fire  is  made  in  them 
some  parts  are  suddenly  heated  and  expand, 
whilst  other  parts  still  remain  cold,  causing  an 
undue  strain,  which  may  also  burst  the  boilers. 
Such  accident  can  be  avoided  by  a  slow  and 
cautious  firing. 

7th.  Sometimes  a  great  many  boilers  are 
joined  together  by  solid  connections  of  cast-iron 
steam-pipes,  which  expand  when  heated,  whilst 
the  masonry  inclosing  the  boilers  contracts. 
Should  such  a  steam-pipe  burst  from  expansion 
or  shrinkage,  explosion  will  likely  follow  in  all 
the  connected  boilers,  of  which  numerous  ex- 
amples have  occurred.  Such  accident  may  be 
avoided  by  making  the  connections  elastic,  or 
free  to  expand  or  contract  without  straining  the 
boilers.  The  fragments  of  one  exploded  boiler 
striking  the  next,  also  cause  continued  explo- 
sions of  several  boilers.* 

Steam-boiler  explosions  are  thus  not  always 
caused  by  pressure  of  steam  alone,  but  often  by 
expansion  and  contraction  of  the  materials  of 
the  boiler.  A  boiler  which  is  perfectly  safe 
with  a  working  pressure  of  200  pounds  may 
explode  with  a  pressure  of  only  20  pound's  to 
the  square  inch. 

*  Such  a  case  occurred  lately  at  Harrisburg,  I'eun., 
where  eight  boilers  exploded  in  one  succession. 


AND  SHIPBUILDING.  125 

Four  hundred  and  ninety  lives  were  lost  by 
boiler  explosions  in  this  country  from  the  fifth 
of  January  to  the  ninth  of  February,  1866. 

If  the  president  who  stopped  my  discus- 
sion on  steam-boiler  explosion,  were  seated 
on  the  top  of  a  boiler  when  it  exploded, 
and  were  blown  up  a  few  hundred  feet  in  the 
air,  and  came  down  corrifortably  and  unhurt,  it 
would  be  interesting  to  ascertain  whether  he 
would  stop  a  discussion  on  steamboiler  explo- 
sion at  the  next  meeting,  or  if  he  would  not 
like  to  know  how  it  happened  ? 

It  will  perhaps  be  remarked  that  it  is  very 
improper  to  take  so  much  upon  myself,  and 
speak  so  plainly  about  all  these  things,  as  has 
been  done  in  this  book,  but  I  have  been  kept 
so  long  in  silence,  whilst  the  neglect  and  igno- 
rance which  still  control  the  subject  have  con- 
signed so  many  thousands  of  souls  to  heaven, 
and  so  many  millions  of  dollars  in  the  opposite 
direction,  that  these  protestations  cannot  be 
suppressed. 

The  appropriate  remedy  for  the  evil  is  THE 

ESTABLISHMENT    OF    TECHNOLOGICAL    INSTITU- 
TIONS THROUGHOUT  THE  LAND. 


11* 


A  EEYIEW 


SUBJECT  OF  SCREW  PROPELLERS. 


The  screw  propeller  has  at  length  become  such 
a  familiar  instrument,  that  every  engineer 
knows  how  to  construct  one.  It  is  frequently 
declared  to  have  reached  perfection,  and  it  h;is 
even  been  said  that  "sufficient  has  been  written 
to  put  this  subject  in  a  true  light;"  nevertheless, 
the  writer  has  no  apology  to  offer  for  bringing 
forward  the  following  views  on  this  hackneyed 
theme. 

The  common  straight-bladed  screw  will  Grst 
be  considered ;  afterwards  the  same  with  ex- 
panding pitch;  and  then  the  different  forms  of 
curve-bladed  screws  in  like  manner. 

It  will  not  be  necessary,  in  this  article,  to 
enter  into  minute  details  of  the  construction 
of  the  screw,  as  the  same  will  be  found  in  a 
practical  treatise  on  the  subject  now  in  prepa- 
ratoin  for  the  press. 


Plain  Screw  Propeller        riate  tt. 


SHIPBUILDING.  127 

TO  CONSTRUCT  A  PLAIN  SCREW  PROPELLER  WITH 
A  UNIFORM  PITCH.     (PLATE  II.) 

Draw  the  line  a  b  (Plate  II.),  and  the  lines 
c  d  and  e  c'  at  right  angles  thereto.  Draw  the 
circumference  of  the  propeller,  fig.  2,  with  the 
given  diameter  D ;  divide  the  quadrant  o'  c'  into 
any  number  (say  eight)  equal  parts,  and  num- 
ber them  as  show  a  in  the  figure.  Set  off  from 
o,  fig.  1,  one-quarter  of  the  assumed  pitch  P, 
and  divide  it  into  an  equal  number  of  parts 
with  that  of  the  quadrant  o'  c'.  Draw  from  each 
division  point  the  rectangular  ordinates  8', 
7',  6',  5',  4',  &c.  &c.,  and  the  intersection  of 
those  by  lines  of  equal  numbers  will  constitute 
points  in  the  helix  of  the  screw. 

Repeat  the  same  operation  with  the  hub, 
and  draw  the  two  helixes  8'  n  o  m,  and  r  s  o  t, 
as  shown  in  the  figure.  Set  off  the  assumed 
length  L,  fig.  1,  then  project  n  o  m,  to  n'  o'  ra', 
fig.  2 ;  join  n'  and  m'  with  the  centre  C,  which 
thus  forms  one  blade  of  the  propeller.  Com- 
plete the  assumed  number  of  blades  (say  four), 
then  the  curve  or  helix  g'  c'  hf,  fig.  2,  projected 
on  fig.  1,  will  appear  as  g  c  h,  so  that  c  g  =  c  h 
=  8'  7'  G'. 

Let  v  denote  the  projecting  angle  of  each 
blade,  then — 


128  TECHNOLOGICAL  EDUCATION 

P  :  L  ~  360  :  F. 
Pitch  P=?^,       .        .        .        1 

The  angle  of  the  blades  with  the  axis  of  the 
propeller,  at  the  periphery,  will  be  — 


and  — 


Pitch       P=          "  .        .        . 

tang.  W 


TO  CONSTRUCT  A  PROPELLER  WITH  A  COMPOUND 
EXPANDING  PITCH.     (PLATE  III.) 

The  pitch  of  a  propeller  may  expand  in  the 
direction  of  the  axis  as  well  as  in  the  direction 
of  the  radius  or  generatrix.  Let  the  generatrix 
have  a  uniform  motion  around  the  axis,  and  an 
accelerated  motion  in  the  direction  of  the  axis; 
then  the  pitch  will  expand  in  the  direction  of 
the  axis.  When  the  generatrix  has  a  quicker 
motion  in  the  direction  of  the  axis  at  the  peri- 
phery than  at  the  axis,  then  the  pitch  will  be 
expanding  in  the  direction  of  the  radius  or  gen- 
eratrix, and  when  the  pitch  is  composed  of  the 
two  expansions,  it  may  be  denominated  a  com- 
pound expanding  pitch. 


Propeller  with  tlxpanditig  Pilch,  PIM. 


\ 


AND  SHIPBUILDING.  129 

The  propelling  energy  of  the  blades  near 
the  hub  of  the  propeller  is  very  inconsiderable, 
and  acts  mainly  to  agitate  the  water,  for  which 
reason  it  has  been  proposed  to  construct  pro- 
pellers, so  that  the  pitch  at  the  periphery  is  to  the 
pitch  at  the  hub,  as  the  velocity  of  the  pitch  of  the 
periphery  is  to  the  velocity  of  the  ship :  so  that 
the  water  will  pass  through  at  the  hub  without 
being  further  disturbed.  Having  given,  say 
the  diameter,  D  =  12  ft. ;  length,  L  =  3  ft. ; 
mean  pitch,  P  =  18  ft. ;  it  is  proposed  to  con- 
struct a  propeller  with  a  compound  expanding 
pitch.  (Plate  III.) 

Draw  the  centre  lines  a  Z>,  c  d,  and  c'  dr.  Cal- 
culate from  formula  2,  the  angle 

tang.TF=  8-14*  12  =  2.0933  =  tang.  69°  30', 

lo 

the  angle  required. 

Draw  the  arc  W,  fig.  1,  and  set  off'  the  angle 
17=  64°  30'  =  n  o  or  \  draw  the  dotted  line 
n  o  m.  Set  off  the  length  L  =  3  feet.  Draw 
from  n  and  w,  the  lines  n  p  and  m  q,  parallel 
to  a  b.  Assume  the  pitch  to  expand  from  16 
feet  at  w,  to  20  feet  at  n,  then  calculate  the 
angles  w  and  w'  from  formula  2. 

tang.z0'  =  8'14  *  —  =  2.356  =  tang.  67° 


130  TECHNOLOGICAL  EDUCATION 

tang.w  -  8'14  *  12  =  1.884  =  tang.62° 

Set  off  the  angles  w  and  wr,  as  shown  in 
fig.  1 ;  draw  the  dotted  lines  t  r  and  r  t'.  Draw 
a  curved  line  n  e  m,  which  will  tangent  t  r  at  ?i, 
and  t'  r  at  m,  then  n  e  m  forms  the  outer  edge 
of  the  propeller,  bladed  with  the  required  ex- 
panding pitch. 

Draw  the  circumference  of  the  propeller  fig. 
2,  project  n  to  n'  and  m  to  m'.  Draw  the  curved 
generatrix  about  as  or  h  C.  Draw  from  n'  and 
m'  the  genatrixes  h'  and  h" — of  the  same  curve 
as  h — so  that  they  meet  on  the  other  side  of  G 
somewhere  at  i;  then  the  helicoidal  surface  G 
h'  n'  of  m'  h"  forms  the  blade  of  the  required 
compound  expanding  pitch. 

A  propeller  of  this  construction  will  not  be 
a  true  screw,  on  account  of  the  generatrixes  k' 
and  h"  not  meeting  in  the  centre  G.  The  error 
is  greatest  in  the  centre  or  near  the  hub.  But 
when  the  blades  are  fashioned  off',  as  shown  on 
the  plate,  the  error  is  inappreciable  in  practice. 
This  kind  of  propeller  is  now  made  to  the  ex- 
tent of  hundreds  or  perhaps  thousands,  by  one 
of  the  most  experienced  firms  in  this  country, 
namely  Neafie  &  Levy,  of  Philadelphia. 

Although  the  construction  is  not  conducted 
strictly  as  here  described,  their  propellers  are 


AND  SHIPBUILDING.  131 

substantially  the  same,  for  on  account  of  their 
great  experience  the  patterns  are  got  up  entirely 
by  "rule  of  thumb,"  and  generally  produce 
good  propellers,  which  have  the  additional  ad- 
vantage (so  much  sought  for)  of  having  "  no 
science  in  them."  They  have  on  hand  a  great 
number  of  patterns  of  different  diameters. 
When,  therefore,  a  screw  is  ordered,  they 
select  the  pattern  of  nearest  diameter,  and  the 
difference,  if  any,  is  cut  out  or  filled  in,  in  the 
mould. 

They  rarely  ever  make  a  drawing  of  a  screw; 
but  when  an  order  is  given  for  one,  the  draughts- 
man gets  the  required  angle  W  of  the  blade  at 
the  periphery  from  a  diagram  constructed  for 
that  purpose.  The  draughtsman  writes  down 
the  diameter  of  the  propeller,  the  angle  of  the 
blade,  the  diameter  and  bore  of  the  hub,  on 
a  printed  form  of  card,  which  is  given  to  the 
moulder,  who  then,  as  before  stated,  selects  the 
nearest  pattern. 

The  blades  on  the  patterns  are  generally  made 
loose  so  that  they  can  be  set  at  the  desired 
angle,  which  is  done  by  an  instrument  com- 
posed of  a  spirit-level  and  a  graduated  circle 
arc.  The  angle  and  pitch  are  thus  adjusted 
with  greater  precision  in  the  foundry,  than  by 


132  TECHNOLOGICAL  EDUCATION 

the  draughtsman  from  the  diagram.  The  angle 
of  the  blades  at  the  hub,  in  such  a  method,  is 
not  considered  of  any  importance,  in  relation 
to  that  at  the  periphery. 


THE  U.  S.  NAVY  PROPELLER  AS  CONSTRUCTED  BY 
CHIEF  ENGINEER  B.  F.  ISHERWOOD. 

Plate  IV.  represents  the  propeller  constructed 
in  the  U.  S.  navy  department  for  a  great  many 
years  past. 

The  generatrix  for  the  screw  is  a  circle  arc 
with  the  centre  c,  fig.  1 ;  but  the  generatrix  at 
right  angle  to  the  axis  is  a  curved  line  a  m  b. 
Either  of  those  generatrixes  will  generate  the 
same  helicoidal  surface,  or  if  the  propeller  was 
made  straight  like  a  m  bfn  d,  fig.  1,  the  blade 
would  appear  a  m  bf  n  d,  fig.  2,  that  is  to  say, 
that  i£the  part  a  m  b  c  is  taken  off  and  put  on 
the  blade  at  d  ef  n,  the  same  propeller  would 
appear  as  the  dotted  lines,  whilst  the  direction 
of  the  helicoidal  surface,  and  the  propelling 
efficiency  of  the  propeller,  would  in  both  cases 
be  the  same,  because  the  outer  configuration  of 
the  blades  (as  stated  by  Mr.  Isherwood)  does 
not  affect  the  propelling  efficiency. 

Mr.  Isherwood  says  in  his  Engineer  Prece- 


Cent.  Prop.KxpJ^itcli  U  SK  TIM 


AND  SHIPBUILDING.  133 

dents,  vol.  i.  page  96  r  "The  only  improve- 
ment possible  on  the  true  screw  of  uniform 
length  from  hub  to  periphery,  is  that  due  to  the 
use  of  an  expanding  pitch  or  curved  directrix." 


I  ftave  examined  Mr.  Isherwood's  propeller, 
which,  *as  it  has  found  a  place  in  the  Navy, 
appears  worthy  of  a  few  remarks. 

The  peculiarity  of  Mr.  Isherwood's  screw  con- 
sists in  the  formation  of  the  helicoidal  surface  by 
a  curved  generatrix,  instead  of  a  straight  gene- 
ratrix, as  usually  employed. 

It  may  be  necessary  to  define  what  is  meant 
by  a  generatrix.  Let  any  right  line  whatever 
be  taken  and  called  the  axis  of  the  helicoid  or 
screw,  and  let  any  other  line  curved  or  straight 
of  definite  length  be  taken,  lying  at  any  incli- 
nation to  the  axis,  and  with  one  extremity 
touching  the  axis;  this  line  is  the  generatrix  of 
the  helicoid  when  it  is  moved  simultaneously 
with  a  rotary  speed  around  the  axis,  and  a 
rectilineal  speed  along  the  axis. 

As    previously   remarked,    Mr.    Isherwood 

uses  a  curved  line  for  the  generatrix,  instead 

of  a  straight  line,  as  usually  used;   and  the 

object  .of  using  the  curved  generatrix  is  (appa- 

12 


134:  TECHNOLOGICAL  EDUCATION 

rently)  to  prevent  the  alleged  loss  of  effect, 
caused  by  the  centrifugal  force  imparted  by 
the  rotary  motion  of  the  helicoidal  surface  to 
the  particles  of  water'  with  which  it  is  in  con- 
tact. Before  proceeding  to  cure  an  alleged 
evil,  it  may  be  advisable  to  ascertain  if  it  exist, 
and  to  what  extent. 

If  the  helicoid  had  no  slip,  and  moved 
through  water  a  distance  equal  to  its  pitch  per 
revolution,  there  evidently  could  be  no  cen- 
trifugal force  communicated  to  the  water  in 
contact  with  it,  for  as  the  helicoid  continuously 
advanced,  it  would  no  sooner  press  any  mole- 
cule of  water  than  the  pressure  on  that  mole- 
cule would  be  removed  by  the  advance  of  the 
helicoid.  The  helicoid  in  this  case  would  be 
in  contact  with  the  molecule  but  an  infinitely 
short  time,  and  of  course  could  endow  it  with 
no  centrifugal  motion.  But  if  the  helicoid 
have  slip,  the  effect  of  that  slip  is  to  keep  the 
molecule  of  water  in  contact  with  the  helicoid 
for  a  time  proportionate  to  the  slip,  and  conse- 
quently to  endow  it  with  a  proportional  cen- 
trifugal force.  If  the  slip  be  considerable,  the 
throwing  off  of  the  water  at  the  periphery  of 
the  helicoid  may  become  sensible,  in  conse- 
quence of  that  force  and  the  property  of  water 
to  escape  by  the  easiest  road.  This  effect 


AND  SHIPBUILDING.  135 

was  observed  in  the  experiments  of  Taurines, 
which  were  performed  on  fixed  screws,  not  ad- 
vancing rectiliueally,  but  having  only  a  rotary 
motion  on  the  axis;  by  which  arrangement 
the  slip  amounted  to  unity.  The  amount  of 
centrifugal  force  imparted  to  the  particles  of 
water  by  the  rotating  helicoidal  surface  in  con- 
tact with  them  was,  however,  very  trifling,  even 
under  the  most  favorable  condition  of  maximum 
slip  ;•  for  the  very  effect  of  that  slip  was  to  dis- 
charge the  water  from  the  helicoid,  the  vacuity 
being  filled  by  fresh  water  flowing  in.  Having 
thus  determined  the  existence  of  a  small  amount 
of  this  centrifugal  force,  and  the  condition  of 
slip  modifying  it;  let  us  inquire  whether,  even 
in  the  event  of  the  amount  of  this  force  becom- 
ing considerable,  there  would  result  any  loss 
of  effect. 

And,  first,  what  would  be  the  nature  of  that 
loss  of  effect,  if  any  exists?  It  would  be  shown 
in  the  increased  slip  of  the  screw,  for  the  follow- 
ing reason.  The  water  being  thrown  off  radi- 
ally in  all  directions  from  the  axis  by  the 
centrifugal  force  communicated  to  it  by  the  re- 
volving screw,  there  would  be  a  vacuum  about 
the  axis,  provided  the  centrifugal  force  forming 
the  vacuum  exceeded  the  force  with  which  the 
surrounding  water  would  flow  in  to  fill  it,  and 


136  TECHNOLOGICAL  EDUCATION 

the  resistance  to  the  screw  would  be  decreased 
in  proportion  to  the  extent  of  their  vacuum ; 
that  is,  the  slip  of  the  screw  would  be  increased. 
The  loss  of  effect,  therefore,  due  to  this  centrifugal 
force  would  be  measured  by  the  increased  slip  of 
the  screw.  But  if  the  water  flowed  into  the 
vacuum  as  fast  as  it  was  formed,  the  resistance 
to  the  screw  would  evidently  remain  the  same 
as  though  there  were  no  centrifugal  force  in 
action;  and  this  is  what  actually  occurs  in 
practice. 

Let  it  then  be  considered  the  depth  to  which 
the  axis  of  a  thirteen  feet  diameter  screw 
(mean  size)  is  immersed,  and  the  consequent 
pressure  of  water  about  it,  and  then  the  slip 
found  in  practice  ranging  from  fifteen  to  thirty 
per  cent,  for  maximum,  and  it  will  be  seen  how 
enormously  the  effect  of  any  centrifugal  force 
must  be  exaggerated  to  make  it  productive  of 
a  vacuum  at  the  axis  of  the  screw. 

Supposing  now  a  centrifugal  force  to  be  given 
to  the  molecules  of  water  in  contact  with  the 
helicoidal  rotating  surface  of  any  amount  less 
than  requisite  to  produce  a  vacuum  at  the  axis; 
would  it  be  attended  with  loss  of  effect  by  the 
screw?  Evidently  not,  for  the  following  rea- 
son : — 

With  a  straight  generatrix  touching  the  axis, 


AND  SHIPBUILDING.          %  137 

the  lateral  component  of  the  oblique  surface  of 
the  screw  if  tangential  to  a  cylinder,  by  which 
the  screw  may  be  supposed  to  be  enveloped ; 
or  is  at  right  angles  to  the  radii  of  that  cylinder. 
With  a  straight  generatrix  touching  an  inner 
cylinder,  having  a  common  axis  with  the  screw, 
the  lateral  composition  is  no  longer  at  right 
angles  to  the  radii  of  the  enveloping  cylinder, 
but  either  converges  to,  or  diverges  from,  the 
axis,  as  either  the  acute  or  obtuse  angle  is 
used  for  propulsion.  In  both  cases  the  com- 
ponent in  the  direction  of  the  axis  continues 
the  same ;  that  is,  parallel  to  the  axis.  Now  it 
is  the  component  in  the  direction  of  the  axis 
that  alone  propels;  hence  the  slip  of  screws  of 
the  same  diameter,  pitch,  and  length,  but  the 
one  having  a  straight  generatrix  touching  the 
axis,  and  the  other  a  straight  generatrix  touch- 
ing tangentially  a  cylinder  having  the  same 
axis  as  the  screw,  should  be  the  same.  The 
only  effect,  then,  of  converging  the  lateral  com- 
ponent to,  or  diverging  it  from  the  axis,  is  to 
cause  a  flowing  of  water  to  or  from  the  axis, 
proportioned  to  the  obliquity  of  the  lateral 
component  to  the  axis,  and  as  this  component 
does  not  affect  the  propulsion,  it  is  obviously  of 
no  importance  what  may  be  its  direction.  There 
can  be  no  loss  of  labor  attending  it,  for  all 
12* 


133  TECHNOLOGICAL  EDUCATION 

• 

angles  are  in  function  of  form  equally  efficient 
for  propulsion,  consequently  their  components 
are  equally  so. 

The  same  slip,  or,  in  other  words,  the  same 
resistance,  as  obtained  from  the  water,  with 
screws  of  equal  diameter,* pitch,  and  length, 
whether  they  have  straight,  inclined,  or  curved 
generatrices ;  for  the  curved  generatrix  is  ob- 
viously but  a  modification  of  the  inclined  gen- 
eratrix;  that  is,  it  is  an  inclined  generatrix, 
whose  inclination  momentarily  changes.  It  is 
therefore  governed  by  the  same  principles. 

There  is,  however,  a  practical  disadvantage 
and  loss  of  labor  attending  ihe  use  of  a  curved 
generatrix,  though  non-theoretically ;  that  is, 
in  function  of  form;  for  the  friction  of  the  he- 
licoidal  surface  on  the  water,  which,  in  differ- 
ently proportioned  screws,  varies  from  10  to 
20  per  cent,  of  the  power  applied ;  being  as  the 
surfaces  with  equal  speeds,  and  the  surface  of  a 
screw  of  a  given  diameter,  pitch,  and  length, 
or  fraction  of  one  convolution. of  the  thread,  is 
greater  with  the  curved  than  with  the  straight 
generatrix,  because  the  arc  of  a  circle  is  greater 
than  its  chord ;  it  follows  then,  that  in  other- 
wise similar  screws,  the  greater  the  curvature 
of  the  generatrix,  the  greater  the  loss  by  fric- 
tion. The  Only  real  loss  of  power  attending 


AND  SHIPBUILDING.  139 

the  imparting  of  a  centrifugal  force  to  the 
molecules  of  water  is  that  due  to  their  mo- 
mentum, that  is,  will  be  expressed  .by  multi- 
plying the  weight  of  water,  to  which  centrifu- 
gal force  is  imparted  by  the  square  of  the 
speed,  with  which  if  flies  off  radially  from  the 
centre.  In  the  most  favorable  case  of  maxi- 
mum slip,  that  is,  a  slip  of  unity,  this  product 
would  be  an  .almost  insensible  proportion  of 
the  total  power  applied. 

From  the  foregoing,  then,  it  will  be  perceived 
that  a  curved  generatrix,  so  far  from  being 
advantageous,  is  positively  a  disadvantage ;  nor 
is  it  necessary  to  depend  entirely  on  induction 
for  this  opinion ;  for  it  has  been  fully  confirmed 
by  experiments. 

About  the  year  1847  (I  give  the  date  from 
memory)  a  series  of  most  complete  experiments 
were  made  by  Bourgois,  by  order  of  the  French 
government,  on  a  vast  number  of  screws  of 
different  proportions  and  shape,  among  them 
the  form  of  screw  (i.  e.,  with  a  curved  genera- 
trix) afterwards  introduced  into  the  U.S.  Navy 
by  Isherwood.  These  experiments  were  made 
with  great  sagacity  of  method,  and  determined 
most  satisfactorily  the  total  uselessness  of  a 
curved  generatrix.  I  give  the  condensed  -re- 


140  TECHNOLOGICAL  EDUCATION 

suits  of  the  experiments,  which  will  be  the  first 
time  they  have  appeared  in  an  English  work. 

It  was  perfectly  comprehended  by  Bourgois, 
that  in  order  to  make  the  influence  of  a  curved 
generatrix  sensible,  it  would  be  necessary  that 
the  screw  have  a  very  considerable  slip;  its 
surface,  during  the  experiments,  was  therefore 
sufficiently  reduced  to  satisfy  this  condition. 

To  fully  test  this  influence,  the  screw  was 
first  tried  propelling  with  the  convex  face,  then 
tried  propelling  with  the  concave  face,  and 
lastly  tried  after  the  flexure  had  been  taken 
out  of  the  generatrix ;  that  is,  after  the  genera- 
trix had  been  made  straight. 

The  results  are  as  follows : — 


AND  SHIPBUILDING. 


141 


Time. 

Conditions. 

Slip  of  Screw. 

f  Strong  breeze,  river  rough, 

March  4       J      Pr°Pe]linS  ^  the  con- 
vex   face  of  the   screw. 

|_     Mean  of  six  experiments, 
a         d         f  Pr°PeUing  with  the  concave 
..  ,     \      face  of  the  screw.     Mean 
Same  time  |     of  six  experiments. 

per  cent. 
50.2 
49.3 

With  curved  generatrix. 

{Calm.    Propelling  with  the 
convex  face  of  the  screw. 
Mean  of  six  experiments. 
•.         ("Propelling    with     concave 

a  \      face  of  the  screw.     Mean 
feame  time  |      Qf  g-x  eiperimentg. 

44.4 

47.6 

f  Calm.   Propelling  with  con- 

M  ™T,  «>A            vex   ^ace  °f  tne  -screw. 
Mean    of    four    experi- 
[     ments. 

Samp  dav     f  Pr°Pelling  with  the  concave 
3  ?.ay    1      face  of  the  screw.     Mean 
Same  time  |     Of  four  experiments. 

45.4 

48.8   / 

Same  day 
Same  time    { 

The  same  screw  having  the 
generatrix  made  straight. 
Mean  of  eight  experi- 
ments, four  being  made 
on  each  face. 

51.2 

2  * 

Allowing  for  unfavorable  errors  of  observa- 
tion, dimensions,  &c.,  in  experiments  of  this 
nature,  it  will  be  observed  that  sensibly  the 
same  result  was  obtained,  propelling  with  either 
face  of  the  curved  generatrix,  and  the  straight 
generatrix,  showing  that  the  employment  of  a 
curved  generatrix  was  at  least  useless,  even 


142  TECHNOLOGICAL  EDUCATION 

with  the  exaggerated  slip  of  50  per  cent. ;  30 
per  cent,  being  the  maximum  in  practice. 

After  reviewing  some  experiments  carefully 
made  on  other  screws,  for  the  purpose  of  deter- 
mining the  effect  of  a  curved  generatrix, 
Bourgois  remarks,  which  I  translate,  as  fol- 
lows:— • 

In  the  second  place,  if  we  observe  helicoid 
at  surfaces  with  curved  generatrices,  or  what 
amounts  to  the  same  thing,  generated  by  a 
straight  line  inclined  on  the  axis,  we  perceive 
the  liquid  thread  does  not  rest  on  the  same  heli- 
coidal  thread.*  As  the  periphery  of  the  screw 
is  approached,  the  helicoidal  thread  inclines 
itself  slightly  to  the  centre ;  there,  on  the  con- 
trary, and  for  the  same  reason,  the  liquid  threads 
tend  to  remove  themselves  from  the  axis,  but 
being  endowed  with  less  momentum  than  the 
first,  there  results  a  flowing  of  water  towards 
the  centre  of  the  screw,  with  so  much  the  more 
abundance  as  the  curvature  of  the  generatrix 
is  greater.  This  is  the  only  notable  effect 
resulting  from  the  employment  of  a  curved 
generatrix ;  and  there  is  nothing  to  prove  that 
effect  favorable. 

*  The  curvature  of  the  generatrix  was  not  proportioned 
to  the  centrifugal  force  or  to  the  slip. — N. 


AND  SHIPBUILDING.  143 

In  the  experiments  made  on  screws,  B  7  and 
B  8*  show,  on  the  contrary,  an  increase  of 
slip  of  04.7,  proving  that  the  employment  of 
curved  generatrices  directs  the  water  towards 
the  axis  in  consequence  of  their  obliquity. 

The  experiments  on  screws  (j>3  and  <t>4  under 
similar  conditions,  gave  sensibly  the  same 
result,  either  the  water  was  pushed  towards  the 
axis  or  it  was  deflected  out  towards  the  peri- 
phery.f 

Finally,  in  passing  from  screw  &  to  Qu  the 
slip  increased  07.5  per  cent4 

The  experiments  of  Sabloukoff  on  a  screw 
turned  in  air,  and  having  the  phenomena  made 

*  Which  were  precisely  alike,  and  formed  with  the 
generatrix  tangent  to  an  inner  cylinder,  which  is  virtually 
a  curved  generatrix.  B  7  propelled  with  the  obtuse 
or  convex  face,  and  gave  a  slip  of  26.1  per  cent.  *  B  8 
propelled  with  an  acute  or  concave  face,  and  gave  a  slip 
of  30.8  per  cent.,  or  4.7  per  cent.  more. — B.  F.  I. 

f  Screws  <f>3  and  <f>4  were  precisely  alike,  and  formed 
with  the  generatrix  tangent  to  an  inner  cylinder.  Screw 
<f>3  propelled  with  the  obtuse  or  convex  face,  and  gave  a 
slip  of  32.8  per  cent.  Screw  <f>4  propelled  with  the  acute 
or  concave  face,  and  gave  a  slip  of  33  per  cent. — B.  F.  I. 

J  Both  screws  being  precisely  alike,  except  that  screw 
n  had  a  straight  generatrix,  and  gave  a  slip  of  34.5  per 
cent.,  while  screw  &,  had  a  curved  generatrix,  and  gave 
a  slip  of  42  per  cent. — B.  F.  I. 


144  TECHNOLOGICAL  EDUCATION" 

.visible  by  smoke,  also  corroborates  the  above. 
It  was  found  that  after  a  high  rotary  speed  had 
been  given  to  the  screw,  the  smoke  being  then 
let  on  at  its  anterior  extremity  at  any  point 
near  its  periphery,  was  drawn  towards  the  screw, 
and  carried  towards  the  other-  extremity. 
When  let  on  at  its  anterior  extremity  near  the 
axis,  the  smoke  coursed  along  parallel  to  the 
axis,  without  any  appearance  of  having  any 
circular  movement,  and  which  was  the  same  in 
the  first  case;  spreading  out  from  the  axis, 
which  should  have  been  the  case  had  the  rota- 
tion of  the  screw  been  able  to  give  a  sensible 
centrifugal  force  to  the  smoke. 

But  even  supposing  (which  we  have  seen  is 
far  from  being  the  case),  that  the  centrifugal 
force  communicated  to  the  particles  of  water  in 
contact  with  the  propelling  surface  by  its  rotary 
movement,  were  great  enough  to  produce  so 
sensible  a  result  as  a  vacuum  at  the  axis  of  the 
screw  equal  to  a  diameter  one-fourth  the  dia- 
meter of  the  screw,  and  supposing  the  use  of  a 
curved  generatrix  to  wholly  obviate  this,  or 
restore  solid  water  in  the  place  of  the  vacuum; 
even  then  the  employment  of  a  curved  genera- 
trix would  be  useless  as  far  as  its  reduction  of 
the  slip  of  the  screw  is  concerned,  and  this  fact 
also  depends  on  the  carefully  conducted  ex- 


AND  SHIPBUILDING.  145 

periments  of  Bourgois.  In  those  experiments 
there  were  tried  two  screws,  exactly  alike,  ex- 
cepting that  the  one  had  a  projected  area  at 
right  angle  to  the  axis  of  187.86,  while  the 
other  had  a  similar  area  of  182.59,  the  reduction 
being  made  by  cutting  out  the  surface  imme- 
diately around  the  axis.  The  diameter  of  the 
screw  was  15.752,  and  the  diameter  of  the  cut 
out  part  of  the  last  screw  was  3.938.  The  slip 
of  the  first  was  35.2  per  cent.,  of  the  last  32.6 
per  cent. 

Similar  experiments  on  two  other  screwsj 
differing  from  the  above  in  pitch  only,  gave  with 
the  full  screw  a  slip  of  26.9  per  cent.,  with  the 
cut  out  screw  24.4  per  cent.  On  these  experi- 
ments Bourgois  remarks,  which  I  translate  as 
follows : — 

"The  difference  (between  the  slip)  being 
little  enough  to  be  attributed  to  irregularities 
of  construction  or  slight  errors  in  the  observa- 
tions, nothing  could  be  concluded  from  it,  ex- 
cept that  a  hollowing  out,  of  which  the  diameter 
is  equal  to  the  fourth  part  of  the  exterior  dia- 
meter of  the  screw,  has  no  influence  on  the 
slip. 

"Believing  that  sufficient  has  been  written  to 
put  this  subject  in  a  true  light,  there  only  remains 
to  notice  that,  when  the  date  of  Bourgois'  ex- 
13 


146  TECHNOLOGICAL  EDUCATION 

periments  are  considered  so  far  antecedent  to 
Isherwood's  screw,  it  is  really  amazing  that  our 
Navy  Department  should  have  adopted  a  pro- 
peller without  novelty ;  but  as  I  apprehend  no 
one  will  ever  use  it  outside  of  the  navy,  the 
mischief  will  do  no  further  harm. 


In  order  to  prove  beyond  a  shadow  of  doubt 
that  the  substance  of  the  above  argument  is 
based  upon  a  solid  foundation,  I  beg  to  refer  to 
the  highest  authority  of  the  land ;  namely,  Mr. 
Isherwood's  Contribution  to  Journal  of  the 
Franklin  Institute  for  July,  1851,  page  42,  &c. 

A  PROPELLER  AS  CONSTRUCTED  FROM  MR.  ISHER- 
WOOD'S DRAWINGS.    (PLATE  V.) 

. 
Having  commented  upon  the  propeller,  as 

constructed  in  the  Bureau  of  Steam-Engineer- 
ing, and  represented  by  Plate  IV.,  it  is  now 
proposed  to  describe  how  propellers  have  been 
constructed  for  the  navy  by  contractors  in  pri- 
vate establishments. 

The  specifications  of  the  construction  of  pro- 
pellers made  in  the  Bureau  of  Steam-Engineer- 
ing, although  perfectly  correct,  were  not  suffi- 
ciently clear  to  enable  the  contractors  to  follow 
the  drawings;  for  which  reason,  a  great  many 


Screw  Propeller  ff.  S.  Wavr     Pl.V 


* 

^-  — 

T> 

\ 

/ 

sy 

""-, 

-J 

^ 

rX 

_«.-^  ^^-" 

AND  SHIPBUILDING.  147 

propellers  have  been  constructed  as  represented 
by  Plate  V.,  which  appear  to  have  a  curved 
generatrix  in  both  figs.  1  and  2,  but  in  reality 
the  generatrix  is  a  straight  line  at  right  angles 
with  the  axis,  as  represented  by  the  dotted 
lines.*  Take  off  the  part  a  be,  and  put  it  on  at 
d  e  /,  without  changing  the  direction  of  the 
helicoidal  surface,  the  propeller  will  be  the 
same  as  represented  by  Plate  II.,  or  a  common 
propeller  with  straight  generatrix.  The  pro- 
pelling efficiency  of  both  the  propellers  on 
Plates  II.  and  V.  will  be  alike.  Yiewing  the 
propeller  at  fig.  2,  Plate  V.,  it  appears  as  if  the 
blades  would  assist  the  centrifugal  force  in 
throwing  the  water  out,  which  is  not  the  case. 

The  only  advantage  of  this  propeller  is,  that 
it  will  not  shake  the  vessel  so  much  as  those 
represented  in  Plates  II.,  III.,  and  IY.,  but  its 
propelling  efficiency  is  some  ten  per  cent,  less 
than»that  of  Plate  IY. 

A  great  many  propellers  of  Plate  Y.  were 
made  for  naval  vessels,  and  on  one  occasion  the 
writer  remarked  in  a  private  establishment  that 
the  propeller  then  moulding  was  not  rightly 
constructed,  or  was  not  according  to  the  draw- 
ing furnished  by  the  Navy  Department,  when 

*  A  large  brass  propeller  of  this  construction  is  now 
lying  in  tlie  Washington  Navy  Yard,  probably  condemned. 
March  1,  1866. 


148  TECHNOLOGICAL  EDUCATION 

a  discussion  arose,  which  resulted  in  stopping 
the  moulding  of  the  propeller,  and  the  making 
of  a  new  pattern  according  to  the  drawing. 

Perhaps  some  of  these  errors,  the  extent  and 
character  of  which  can  only  be  detected  and 
calculated  by  the  application  of  scientific  prin- 
ciples, may  serve  to  explain  why  it  is  that  the 
speed  of  vessels  in  the  navy  is  so  unsatisfac- 
tory. 

TO  CONSTRUCT  A  CENTRIPETAL  PROPELLER  OF  A 
UNIFORM  PITCH.     (PLATE  VI.) 

Let  us  now  forget  all  that  has  been  said  about 
the  propellers  of  curved  generatrix,  and  start 
on  an  entirely  new  basis. 

The  water  acted  upon  by  a  straight-bladed 
propeller,  is  thrown  out  radially  towards  the 
periphery  by  the  action  of  the  centrifugal  force; 
in  which  case  dynamic  effect  is  evidently  ex- 
pended in  giving  this  motion  to  the  water,  and 
as  the  direction  of  the  motion  is  at  right  angles 
with  that  of  the  Vessel,  the  effect  expended 
upon  it  is  thrown  away.  It  is,  therefore,  now 
proposed  to  construct  the  helicoidal  surface  of 
the  propeller  blades,  so  as  to  utilize  this  lost 
effect  and  prevent  the  water  from  being  thrown 
out  by  the  centrifugal  force. 


Cmlripital  Propeller        Pl.YT 


AND  SHIPBUILDING.  149 

Let  TF,  fig.  2,  Plate  VI.,  represent  a  drop  of 
water  acted  upon  by  a  force  whose  magnitude 
and  direction  are  represented  by  the  arrow  J5, 
at  right  angles  with  the  radius  r.  If  acted  upon 
by  no  other  force,  the  drop  W  would  move  in 
the  direction  of  B  towards  s,  but  as  it  is  desired 
to  move  the  water  in  the  direction  of  the  circle 
nm,  or  more  correctly,  in  the  direction  of  the 
helix  of  the  screw,  it  will  be  necessary  to  apply 
a  centripetal  force,  whose  magnitude  and  direc- 
tion may  be  represented  by  the  arrow  C,  in  the 
direction  of  the  radius  r.  If  the  centripetal  force 
C  be  equal  to  the  centrifugal  force  of  the  water, 
then  the  combined  action  of  the  two  forces  B 
and  Oj  would  move  the  drop  W  in  the  direc- 
tion of  the  circle  n  m.  The  resultant  of  B  and 
C  may  be  represented  by  the  magnitude  and 
direction  of  the  arrow  F,  which  is  the  diagonal 
of  the  rectangle  of  B  and  C.  If  the  direction 
of  the  generatrix  of  the  propeller  blade  was  at 
right  angles  with  F,  it  would  drive  the  drop  W 
in  the  direction  of  the  circle  n  m,  as  desired. 

The  Centrifugal  and  Centripetal  Forces 
can  be  represented  by  the  formula 

C=^.  4 

gr 

13* 


150  TECHNOLOGICAL  EDUCATION 

in  which  letters  denote 

W—  weight  of  the  drop  of  water,  fig.  2. 

v  =  velocity  in  feet  per  second  of  W. 

r  =  radii  in  feet  of  the  circle  n  m. 

g  =  32.166,  the  acceleratrix  of  gravity. 

0  =  centripetal  force,  expressed  in  the  same 
units  of  weight  as  W. 

n  —  number  of  revolutions  per  minute  of  the 
propeller. 


60 
Insert  formula  5  for  v  in  formula  4,  we  have 

C= 


Let   the   propelling  force   B  represent  the 
magnitude  and  direction  of  the  water  W.    Then 
W  :  0=1:  tang.  x. 

or 

0=  Wtang.  x.          ...        7 
but 


This  formula  8  gives  the  angle  of  the  gene- 
ratrix to  the  radii  r. 


of  which 

4  ft2  rn2 


AND  SHIPBUILDING.  151 

Let  X  be  the  angle  of  the  generatrix  at  the 
extremity  of  the  blades,  we  have 

-P-    2  ft  D  ri2      D  n  n 

tanq.X  = =  — —         .         .         .9 

602#       5870 

The  centripetal  generatrix  will  be  an  arith- 
metic spiral  of  the  angle  X  at  the  periphery. 

r\ 

tang.  X- 


180 

when  w°  is  the  angles  in  degrees,  in  which  the 
spiral  is  constructed,  as  shown  in  fig.  2. 

~""°       D  n2 


tco_180Dn»_    Dn*  0 

5870  «       102.4  ' 

This  formula  10,  will  give  the  proper  angle 
w°  if  the  slip  of  the  propeller  is  unity,  but 
the  number  of  revolutions  n  must  be  multi- 
plied by  the  slip  S  expressed  in  a  fraction  of 
unity,  or 

m^* 

102.4  ' 

From  this  formula  11,  calculate  the  centripetal 
angle  w°  fig.  2,  Plate  VI.  Divide  the  arc  and 
the  radius  into  any  number  of  (say  eight)  equal 
parts  and  construct  the  arithmetic  spiral  as 
shown  by  the  fig.  2.  This  spiral  will  then  be 


152  TECHNOLOGICAL  EDUCATION 

centripetal  under  the  condition  of  formula  11, 
that  is  to  say,  the  water  will  not  be  thrown 
out  by  the  centrifugal  force. 

A  curved  generatrix  at  right  angles  with  the 
axis  will  form  the  same  helicoidal  surface  as  a 
straight  generatrix  inclined  to  the  axis,  as 
before  stated. 

From  the  point  c?,  where  the  dotted  line  i  d 
intersects  the  generatrix  a  d  c,  draw  the  line 
d  dr  parallel  to  the  axis  of  the  propeller  fig.  1; 
join  i'  d',  continued  to  p,  then  i'  p  is  the  inclined 
generatrix  which  will  generate  the  same  heli- 
coidal surface  as  the  curved  one  a  d  c. 

The  inclination  of  the  generatrix  will  be 

tana,  y  = ±-.          .         .          12 

180  D 

But  w°  *=  -I1——,  and  tang.  y= 

102.4  102.4  x  180  D 

13 


18482          ' 
in  which  P  must  be  expressed  in  feet. 

Draw  u  b  and  tf  parallel  with  i'  p,  project  a 
and  e,  as  shown  in  the  figures.  Draw  from  the 
corners  of  the  blades,  fig.  2,  the  dotted  lines  to 
the  centre;  the  dotted  lines  will  represent  a 
propeller  with  apparently  straight  blades  in 
fig.  2,  and  with  an  inclined  generatrix  in  fig.  1. 


Centrip  Prop.ExpdJidmg  Pitch      /'/  I7/ 


AND  SHIPBUILDING.  153 

Both  these  propellers  will  produce  the  same  pro- 
pulsive effect,  but  that  with  curved  blades  indi- 
cated by  the  dark  lines  in  the  drawing  will  not 
shake  the  vessel  so  much  as  the  other  shown 
by  the  dotted  lines. 

Captain  John  Ericsson  makes  his  propellers 
as  shown  by  the  dotted  lines,  which  in  reality 
is  a  centripetal  propeller  with  a  curved  genera- 
trix at  right  angles  to  the  axis. 


TO  CONSTRUCT  A  CENTRIPETAL  PROPELLER  WITH 
A  COMPOUND  EXPANDING  PITCH.     (PLATE  VII.) 

Having  given  the  diameter  Z>,  pitch  P, 
and  length  L,  of  the  propeller,  calculate  the 
angles  W,  w1  and  wz  by  formula  2.  Construct 
the  outer  edge  of  the  blade  as  described  for 
the  propeller  on  Plate  III.  Calculate  the  cen- 
tripetal angle  w°  from  formula  11,  for  the  mean 
pitch  of  the  propeller.  The  projecting  angle 
of  the  blades  will  be — - 

360  £ 
v=-p— ,     ...        14 

Make  the  centripetal  angle  of  the  leading 
generatrix  m'  m"  C, 

o     v  S 

w  =  w  — . 


154  TECHNOLOGICAL  EDUCATION 

Make  the  centripetal  angle  of  the  delivery 
generatrix  n'  n"  G, 


Construct  the  two  generatrices  forming  the 
sides  of  the  blades,  which  will  then  constitute 
a  centripetal  propeller  with  a  compound  ex- 
panding pitch. 

In  making  the  pattern,  or  in  the  moulding 
of  this  propeller,  it  is  best  to  construct  several 
(say  five)  generatrices,  as  shown  in  one  blade, 
which  is  accomplished  by  dividing  the  dotted 
arcs  u  u  and  z  z,  each  into  four  equal  parts, 
which  form  the  required  generatrices.' 

This  is  the  propeller  which  the  writer  would 
recommend  as  the  best. 

Let  the  helicoidal  surface  of  the  propeller 
be  projected  backwards  at  the  hub,  as  shown 
by  the  dotted  lines,  fig.  1,  so  that  the  part  ef 
g  h  be  removed  to  a  b  c  d  i,  then  the  propeller 
blades  would  appear  straight  in  fig.  2,  though 
the  helicoidal  surface  and  propelling  efficiency 
would  be  the  same  in  tooth  cases. 

The  propeller  represented  by  the  dotted 
lines  is  nearly  the  same  as  that  on  Plate  IV.,  as 
constructed  by  Mr.  Isherwood.  The  propeller 
on  Plate  VII.  is  constructed  on  true  scientific 
principles,  which  is  not  the  case  with  the  one 
on  Plate  IV. 


AND  SHIPBUILDING.  155 

It  may  be  well  to  explain  to  the  readers 
who  are  not  familiar  with  the  subject,  that  the 
remarks  on  Mr.  Isherwood's  curve-bladed  pro- 
peller (Plate  IY.)  commencing  at  page  133,  are 
his  own,  as  applied  to  the  author's  propeller 
(Plate  VII.),  and  a  transposition  of  names  is 
therefore  necessary  to  make  the  sense  intelli- 
gible. See  Journal  of  the  Franklin  Institute, 
July,  1851. 

It  indicates  what  pains  the  chief  took  in 
condemning  the  curve-bladed  propeller,  "be- 
lieving," as  he  said,  "that  sufficient  has  been 
written  to  put  this  subject  in  a  true  light."  I 
was  very  much  obliged  to  the  chief  for  the 
clearness  of  his  true  light,  and  sincerely  hoped 
its  brilliancy  would  not  serve  merely  to  make 
darkness  visible,  but  the  hope  has  not  been 
realized. 

Soon  after,  Mr.  Isherwood  constructed  the 
San  Jacinto  propeller,  which  turned  out  a  fail- 
ure, and  disgrace  to  the  nation,  at  her  arrival 
in  Constantinople,  as  the  indignant  correspond- 
ence of  Americans  from  that  place  abundantly 
testified. 

On  the  return  of  this  frigate,  Mr.  Isherwood's 
propeller  was  condemned,  and  a  better  one 
from  a  private  establishment  was  substituted. 

When  Mr.  Isherwood  became  more  enlight- 
ened on  the  subject,  he  found  that  the  curve- 


156  TECHNOLOGICAL  EDUCATION 

bladed  propeller  was  all  right,  and  quietly 
adopted  it  in  the  navy. 

His  empiricism  thus  triumphed  not  only  over 
me,  but  over  the  navy  and  the  nation,  and  the 
country  has  been  most  severely  injured  by  it 
too.  True  scientific  principles  applied  by  a 
civilian,  have  been  attacked  and  vanquished 
by  quackery  from  the  navy. 

Neglecting  all  science  and  theory,  experience 
alone  has  led  to  the  adoption  of  curve-bladed 
propellers.  I  have  made  experiments  with  a 
great  many  different  kinds  of  screws,  in  which 
the  powers  expended  and  delivered  were  cor- 
rectly measured  by  a  delicate  dynamometer, 
and  which  indicated  a  decided  advantage  on 
the  side  of  the  curve-blades.  In  1846  I 
proposed  a  curve-bladed  propeller  to  Captain 
Carlsund,  at  Motala,  Sweden,  who  rejected  it 
for  the  reason  that  it  would  not  back  so  well 
as  the  straight-bladed  one.  Captain  Carlsund, 
however,  has  since  adopted  the  curve-screw 
exclusively. 

The  French  experiments  quoted  by  Mr.  Tsh- 
erwood,  I  am  inclined  to  believe,  are  not  reli- 
able, inasmuch  as  they  are  at  variance  with 
subsequent  experience,  and  declare  a  preference 
for  convex  over  concave  surfaces  in  propelling. 

There    is   a   propeller    introduced    in    this 


AND  SHIPBUILDING.  157 

country,  called  the  " buffalo  wheel,"  in  which 
the  curve  is  turned  the  wrong  way,  or  in  other 
words,  propels  with  a  convex  surface.  I  have 
been  on  board  of  several  steamers  with  this 
screw,  and  the  engineers  have  invariably  told 
me  that  it  works  better  in  backing  than  ahead, 
which  confirms  the  principles  herein  given, 
and  conflicts  with  the  results  of  the  French 
experiments. 

Some  years  ago  there  was  a  steamer  built  in 
Chicago,  111.,  with  two  propellers.  It  was  de- 
cided to  put  a  common  straight-bladed  propel- 
ler on  one  side,  and  a  curve-bladed  on  the 
other.  After  she  had  been  running  for  some 
time,  I  received  an  order  for  another  curve- 
bladed  propeller  to  take  the  place  of  the 
straight-bladed  one,  in  consequence  of  the  su- 
periority of  the  former. 

In  a  great  many  steamers  in  the  navy  there 
is  not  room  enough  between  the  stern  and 
rudder  posts  to  admit  the  drawn  propeller 
represented  on  Plate  IV.,  but  there  is  room  for 
the  "dotted  one,  which  is  equally  efficient  in 
propelling,  and,  still  better,  the  drawn  pro- 
peller represented  on  Plate  VII.  But  in  so 
doing,  Mr.  Isherwood's  empiricism  might  be 
exposed  in  regard  to  curve  bladed  propellers, 
although  it  would  not  be  necessary  to  infringe 
14 


158  TECHNOLOGICAL  EDUCATION 

upon  the  centripetal  propeller  and  make  the 
generatrix  a  true  arithmetic  spiral  which  it 
ought  to  be;  and  in  order  to  avoid  the  risk  of 
science  he  can  easily  make  a  quack  spiral, 
which  would  still  make  a  good  propeller. 

Mr.  Isherwood  hastily  and  erroneously  com- 
mitted himself  in  the  propeller  question,  pre- 
cisely as  in  the  anti-expansion  question,  so 
that  now  he  cannot  act  "according  to  his  own 
convictions,  but  constrains  the  navy  to  suffer 
the  consequences. 

In  all  this,  Mr.  Isherwood  is  not  so  much  to  be 
blamed  as  the  custom  by  which  the  profession 
has  so  long  been  guided,  and  from  which  it 
has  suffered  such  serious  evils.  It  is  lamenta- 
ble for  the  country  to  ruin  such  extraordinary 
talent  as  that  with  which  Mr.  Isherwood  is 
naturally  gifted. 

Under  the  present  organization,  experience 
has  demonstrated  that  it  matters  little  who  is 
the  engineer-in-chief,  for  he  is  so  overruled  by 
politics  that  he  cannot,  even  with  all  his  good- 
will, act  altogether  advantageously  for  his 
office. 

The  Bureau  of  Steam-Engineering  has  been 
required  by  Congress  to  adopt  machinery  so 
perfectly  absurd,  that  not  a  shadow  of  success 
for  it  could  have  been  anticipated.  After  im- 


AND  SHIPBUILDING,  159 

mense  sums  of  money  have  been  expended, 
and  the  failure  proclaimed,  then  the  engineer- 
in-chief,  as  well  as  the  navy  department,  have 
been  attacked  and  shamefully  abused  for  what 
they  have  not  been  at  fault ;  as  has  also  been 
the  case  in  the  notorious  trials  of  the  steamers 
Algonquin  and  Winooski. 

The  people  know  only  what  has  been  pub- 
lished in  the  newspapers,  where  it  is  impossible 
to  separate  the  chaff  from  the  grain,  and  the 
true  state  of  the  case  has  not  yet  been  revealed. 
In  the  course  of  this  protracted  controversy, 
however,  our  engineering  standing  has  been 
impaired,  and  great  loss  of  money  has  ensued ; 
not  from  any  want  of  talent  in  the  Bureau  of 
Steam-Engineering,  but  simply  because  it  does 
not  control  the  confidence,  and  command  the 
respect  and-  dignity  due  to  its  important  office. 

Take  the  office  of  the  Coast  Survey  as  an  ex- 
ample. The  chief  there  not  only  understands 
his  business,  but  he  is  master  of  his  situation. 
Congress  will  not  impose  upon  him  the  adop- 
tion of  some  gimcrack  instrument  in  his  sur- 
veying. "We  never  hear  complaints  of  the 
maps  and  reports  of  that  department,  which 
command  respect  throughout  the  world,  and 
are  second  to  none  of  their  kind.  On  the  one 


160  TECHNOLOGICAL  EDUCATION 

side  there  is  dignity  and  learning,  and  on  the 
other,  pedantry  and  dogmatism. 

The  engineer-in-chief  of  the  U.  S.  navy 
ought  to  be  endowed  with  the  highest  rank  of 
that  department.  He  ought  to  be  brought  up 
from  some  properly  established  technological 
academy,  through  all  the  different  branches  of 
naval  engineering,  including  experience  in  the 
workshops  and  yards,  and  even  in  the  coast- 
survey,  lighthouse  board  and  observatory  de- 
partments, all  of  which  are  proper  appurtenants 
of  the  navy. 

When  an  engineer  has  thus  reached  the  im- 
portant and  responsible  station  of  engineer-in- 
chief,  he  would  be  able  to  command  all  the 
respect  and  confidence  due  to  so  distinguished 
an  office,  and  in  intellectual  rank  would  be 
equivalent  to  a  Grand  Admiral.  He  should  be 
the  engineer-in-chief  not  only  for  "engine 
cfriving,"  l?ut  for  the  yards  and  docks,  con- 
structions and  works  of  every  kind.  He  would 
himself  be  far  above  the  drudgery  and  detail  of 
mere  construction,  but  would  intrust  that  to 
the  commodore-engineer  in  each  yard  where 
the  work  is  to  be  executed,  thus  giving  a  chance 
of  development  and  display  to  whatever  talent 
the  corps  of  engineers  might  possess,  and  create 


AND  SHIPBUILDING.  161 

an  emulation  which  would  elevate  the  navy  to 
a  condition  of  the  highest  perfection. 

The  Grand  Admiral  Engineer  would  know 
how  to  select  and  surround  himself  with  the 
highest  ability,  and  how  to  detail  appropriate 
persons  to  their  respective  stations.  He  would 
certainly  build  no  light  draft  monitors  which 
would  not  float.  He  would  make  no  anti- 
expansion  experiments  and  researches  in  steam- 
engineering  without  consulting  the  physical 
laws  involved  in  the  operation.  He  would  not 
build  any  gimcrack-hair-cut-off-antifriction-double- 
double-crank-macliinery.  There  would  be  no 
pamphlets  or  newspapers  abusing  the  engineer- 
in-chief  and  the  navy  department  in  general. 
The  seed  of  technological  education  would  be 
realized  in  a  valuable  harvest,  and  give  no 
occasion  for  attacks  upon  high  officials  "  who 
have  not  the  savoirfaire  to  chop  up  an  opponent 
without  hurting  his  feelings." 

As  it  now  stands,  the  chief  takes  upon  him- 
self to  restrict  all  construction  to  his  individual 
notions  (except  so  far  as  he  is  himself  controlled 
by  the  politicians),  and  from  a  censurable  ambi- 
tion, is  afraid  to  endow  with  discretion  any  of 
his  subordinates  whom  he  suspects  of  talent 
which  may  surpass  his  own. 

Constructions  ought  never  to  be  made  in  the 


162  TECHNOLOGICAL  EDUCATION 

navy  department,  for  engineers,  not  being  im- 
mediately connected  with  the  workshops,  can- 
not keep  pace  with  the  practical  progress  which 
is  going  on  there. 

When  Mr.  Isherwood  entered  the  U.  S.  navy, 
his  natural  talent  for  engineering  made  him  at 
once  his  own  master.  There  was  none  above 
him  whose  distinction  he  feared,  none  having 
sufficient  technological  education  to  control  or 
analyze  his  reasonings,  and  restrain  the  amaz- 
ing impetuosity  which  characterized  all  his 
movements. 

Now,  in  a  properly  educated  and  well  organ- 
ized corps  of  engineers,  Mr.  Isherwood  would 
have  been  subjected  to  such  a  wholesome  super- 
vision that  his  great  talent  would  have  been 
usefully  developed  and  utilized,  and  most  of 
his  well-meant  errors  would  not  have  occurred 
to  the  detriment  of  his  own  rising  reputation, 
and  to  the  damage  of  that  esprit  de  corps  which 
we  all  are  so  desirous  to  encourage. 

The  technological  academy,  as  above  hinted, 
should  also  embrace  ordnance,  coast  survey, 
and  lighthouse  engineering,  all  of  which  natu- 
rally belong  to  the  navy,  and  ought  to  be 
superintended  by  naval  engineers.  Lighthouse 
engineering  presents  a  wide  field,  but  is  yet 
very  little  studied.  The  construction  of  light- 


AND  SHIPBUILDING.  163 

houses  and  lightships  with  their  appurtenances, 
as  lamps,  lenses,  reflectors,  electric  lights,  and 
the  different  kinds  of  machinery  connected 
therewith,  requires  great  mechanical  skill,  and 
ought  to  be  the  work  of  naval  engineers. 

The  navy  yards,  which  are  now  under  the 
charge  of  line-officers,  ought  to  be  intrusted  to 
engineers  of  the  same  rank.  In  private  life,  we 
never  find  a  shipyard  or  machine  shop  in  charge 
of  a  sea-captain.  A  carpenter  cannot  super- 
intend the  work  of  a  blacksmith. 

The  magnificent  combination  of  a  properly 
organized  corps  of  naval  engineers  would  at 
once  elevate  the  country  as  well  as  economize 
its  means,  and  utilize  its  resources. 

The  money  lost  or  squandered  during  the 
rebellion  for  want  of  such  a  corps  may  be  esti- 
mated at  a  hundred  million  a/dollars,  the  interest 
of  which,  through  all  future  time,  would  be 
more  than  sufficient  to  build  and  support  a 
technological  academy  of  the  highest  order,  and 
pay  the  salary  of  the  whole  corps  of  engineers. 

Who  can  predict  the  coming  destiny  of  the 
country  ?  Who  can  tell  how  soon  we  may  have 
another  protracted  war  ?  Are  we  prepared  to 
meet  it  without  extravagant  sacrifices? 

There  is  no  doubt  of  our  capability  to  defeat 
any  enemy  that  would  dare  to  meet  us,  but  the 


164       TECHNOLOGICAL  EDUCATION,  ETC. 

question  is,  not  to  waste. our  means  and  ammu- 
nition at  random,  or  to  give  him  the  satisfaction 
of  knowing  that  we  have  overstrained  ourselves 
in  the  conflict,  but  to  convince  him  on  the  con- 
trary that  our  power  is  a  manifestation  of  skill, 
and  is  not  measured  by  numbers  of  guns  and 
dollars. 

Great  discoveries  are  frequently  made  of  the 
highest  national  importance,  and  we  are  unable 
to  grasp  hold  of  them  for  want  of  a  competent 
bureau  of  technical  knowledge. 

Take,  for  example,  the  Bessemer  process  of 
refining  iron,  which,  although  announced  in 
England  some  ten  years  ago,  aDd  although 
every  nation  in  Europe  took  hold  of  it  at  once, 
there  is  yet  but  one  establishment  of  the  kind, 
and  that  only  recently  erected,  in  the  United 
States.  Had  we  been  less  dilatory,  and  secured 
the  immense  resources  its  introduction  would 
have  given  us,  it  would  have  saved  us  many 
thousands  of  lives,  and  many  millions  of  dollars, 
during  our  late  naval  and  military  operations. 


CATALOGUE 

OP 

PRACTICAL  AND 


PUBLISHED 


HENRY  CAREY  BAIRD, 

Industrial  Jjublisfttr, 

NO.   4O6   WALNUT   STRKET, 


*S-  Any  of  the  Books  comprised  in  this  Catalogue  will  be  sent  by  mail,  free  of 
postage,  at  the  publication  price • 

•*3~  A  Descriptive  Catalogue,  96  pages,  8vo.,  will  be  sent,  free  of  postage,  to  any 
one  who  will  furnish  the  publisher  with  his  address. 


ARLOT.— A  Complete  Guide  for  Coach  Painters. 

Translated  from  the  French  of  M.  ARLOT,  Coach  Painter ;  for  eleven 
years  Foreman  of  Painting  to  M.  Eherler,  Coach  Maker,  Paris.  By 
A.  A.  FESQUET,  Chemist  and  Engineer.  To  which  is  added  an  Ap- 
pendix, containing  Information  respecting  the  Materials  and  the 
Practice  of  Coach  and  Car  Painting  and  Varnishing  in  the  United 
States  and  Great  Britain.  12mo $1.25 

ARMENGATJD,  AMOROTJX,  and  JOHNSON.— The 
Practical  Draughtsman's  Book  of  Industrial  De- 
sign, and  Machinist's  and  Engineer's  Drawing 
Companion : 

Forming  a  Complete  Course  of  Mechanical  Engineering  and  Archi- 
tectural Drawing.  From  the  French  of  M.  Armengaud  the  elder,  Prof, 
of  Design  in  the  Conservatoire  of  Arts  and  Industry,  Paris,  and  M  M. 
Armengaud  the  younger,  and  Amoroux,  Civil  Engineers.  Rewritten 
and  arranged  with  additional  matter  and  plates,  selections  from  and 
examples  of  the  most  useful  and  generally  employed  mechanism  of 
the  day.  By  WILLIAM  JOHNSON,  Assoc.  f  nst.  C.  E.,  Editor  of  "  The 
Practical  Mechanic's  Journal."  Illustrated  by  50  folio  steel  plates, 
and  50  wood-cuts.  A  new  edition,  4to.  ....  $10.00 


2  HENRY  CAREY  BAIRD'S  CATALOGUE. 

ARRO  WSMITH.— Paper-Hanger's  Companion : 

A  Treatise  in  which  the  Practical  Operations  of  the  Trade  are  Sys- 
tematically laid  down  :  with  Copious  Directions  Preparatory  to  Paper- 
ing ;  Preventives  against  the  Effect  of  Damp  on  W  alls  ;  the  Various 
Cements  and  Pastes  Adapted  to  the  Several  Purposes  of  the  Trade ; 
Observations  and  Directions  for  the  Panelling  and  Ornamenting  of 
Rooms,  etc.  By  JAMES  ARROWSMITH,  Author  of  "Analysis  of  Dra- 
pery," etc.  12mo.,  cloth ^!..~> 

ASHTON.— The  Theory  and  Practice  of  the  Art  of  De- 
signing Fancy  Cotton  and  Woollen  Cloths  from 
Sample : 

Giving  full  Instructions  for  Reducing  Drafts,  as  well  as  the  Methods 
of  Spooling  and  Making  out  Harness  for  Cross  Drafts,  and  Finding 
any  Required  Reed,  with  Calculations  and  Tables  of  Yarn.  By 
FREDERICK  T.  ASHTON,  Designer,  West  Pittsfield,  Mass.  With  52 
Illustrations.  One  volume,  4to $10.00 

BAIRD.— Letters  on  the  Crisis,  the  Currency  and  the 

Credit  System. 
By  HENRY  CAREY  BAIRD.    Pamphlet 05 

BATED. — Protection  of  Home  Labor  and  Home  Pro- 
ductions necessary  to  the  Prosperity  of  the  Ameri- 
can Farmer. 
By  HENRY  CAREY  BAIRD.    8vo.,  paper 10 

BAIRD.— Some  of  the  Fallacies  of  British  Free- Trade 
Revenue  Reform. 

Two  Letters  to  Arthur  Latham  Perry,  Professor  of  History  and  Politi- 
cal Economy  in  Williams  College.  By  HENRY  CAREY  BAIRD. 
Pamphlet 05 

BAIRD. — The  Rights  of  American  Producers,  and  the 

Wrongs  of  British  Free-Trade  Revenue  Reform. 
By  HENRY  CAREY  BAIRD.    Pamphlet 05 

BAIRD. — Standard  Wages  Computing  Tables  : 

An  Improvement  in  all  former  Methods  of  Computation,  so  arranged 
that  wages  for  days,  hours,  or  fractions  of  hours,  at  a  specified  rad  |..-i 
day  or  hour,  may  be  ascertained  at  a  glance.  By  T.  SPANGl.ERB.\n:i>. 
Oblong  folio $5.00 

BAIRD.— The  American  Cotton  Spinner,  and  Mana- 
ger's and  Carder's  Guide : 

A  Practical  Treatise  on  Cotton  Spinnini,';  .giving  the  Dimensions  and 
Speed  of  Machinery,  Draught  and  Twist  Calculations,  etc.  ;  with 
notices  of  recent  Improvements  :  toyetlier  with  liulcs  and  Examples 
for  making  changes  in  the  sizes  and  numbers  of  Roving  and  Yarn. 
Compiled  from  the  papers  of  the  late  ROBERT  H.  BAIRD.  12mo.  $1.50 


HENRY   CAREY   BAIRD'S  CATALOGUE.  3 

BAKER. — Long-Span  Railway  Bridges  : 

Comprising  Investigations  of  the  Comparative  Theoretical  and  Prac- 
tical Advantages  of  the  various  Adopted  or  Proposed  Type  Systems 
of  Construction ;  with  numerous  Formulae  and  Tames.  By  B.  BAKER. 
12rno $2.00 

BAUERMAN.— A  Treatise  on  the  Metallurgy  of  Iron  : 

Containing  Outlines  of  the  History  of  Iron  Manufacture,  Methods  of 
Assay,  and  Analysis  of  Iron  Ores,  Processes  of  Manufacture  of  Iron 
and  Steel,  etc.,  etc.  By  H.  BAUERMAN,  F.  G.  S.,  Associate  of  the 
Royal  School  of  Mines.  First  American  Edition,  Revised  and  En- 
larged. With  an  Appendix  on  the  Martin  Process  for  Making  Steel, 
from  the  Report  of  ABRAM  S.  HEWITT,  U.  S.  Commissioner  to  the 
Universal  Exposition  at  Paris,  1867.  Illustrated.  12mo.  .  $2.00 

BEANS.— A  Treatise  on  Railway  Curves  and  the  Loca- 
tion of  Railways. 
By  E.  W.  BEANS,  C.  E.     Illustrated.    12mo.    Tucks.      .      .       $1.50 

BELL.— Carpentry  Made  Easy  : 

Or,  The  Science  and  Art  of  Framing  on  a  New  and  Improved  System. 
With  Specific  Instructions  for  Building  Balloon  Frames,  Barn  Frames, 
Mill  Frames,  Warehouses,  Church  Spires,  etc.  Comprising  also  a 
System  of  Bridge  Building,  with  Bills,  Estimates  of  Cost,  and  valuable 
Tables.  Illustrated  by  38  plates,  comprising  nearly  200  figures.  By 
WILLIAM  E.  BELL,  Architect  and  Practical  Builder.  8vo.  .  $5.00 

BELL. — Chemical  Phenomena  of  Iron  Smelting : 
An  Experimental  and  Practical  Examination  of  the  Circumstances 
which  determine  the  Capacity  of  the  Blast  Furnace,  the  Temperature 
of  the  Air,  and  the  proper  Condition  of  the  Materials  to  be  operated 
upon.    By  I.  LOWTHIAN  BELL.    Illustrated.    8vo.      .        .        $6.00 

BEMROSE.— Manual  of  Wood  Carving  : 

With  Practical  Illustrations  for  Learners  of  the  Art, and  Original  and 
Selected  Designs.  By  WILLIAM  BEMROSE,  Jr.  With  an  Introduction 
by  LLEWELLYN  JEWITT,  F.  S.  A.,  etc.  With  128  Illustrations.  4to., 
cloth ( $3.00 

BICKNELL.— Village  Builder,  and  Supplement : 

Elevations  and  Plans  for  Cottages,  Villas,  Suburban  Residences, 
Farm  Houses,  Stables  and  Carriage  Houses.  Store  Fronts,  School 
Houses,  Churches,  Court  Houses,  and  a  model  Jail ;  also,  Exterior  and 
Interior  details  for  Public  and  Private  Buildings,  with  approved 
Forms  of  Contracts  and  Specifications,  including  Prices  of  Building 
Materials  and  Labor  at  Boston,  Mass.,  and  St.  Louis,  Mo.  Containing 
7"i  plates  drawn  to  scale;  showing  the  style  and  cost  of  building  in 
different  sections  of  the  country,  l>cm<_c  an  original  work  comprising 
the  designs  of  twenty  leading  architects,  representing  the  New  Eng- 
land, Middle,  Western,  and  Southwestern  States.  4to.  .  $12.00 


4  HENRY  CAREY  BAIRD'S  CATALOGUE. 

BLENKARN.— Practical  Specifications  of  Works  exe- 
cuted in  Architecture,  Civil  and  Mechanical  Engi- 
neering, and  in  Road  Making  and  Sewering  : 
To  which  are  added  a  series  of  practically  useful  Agreements  and  Re- 
ports.   By  JOHN  BLENKARN.    Illustrated  by  15  large  folding  plates. 
8vo.  $9.00 

BLINN. — A  Practical  Workshop  Companion  for  Tin, 

Sheet-Iron,  and  Copperplate  Workers  : 
Containing  Rules  for  describing  various  kinds  of  Patterns  used  by 
Tin,  Sheet-Iron,  and  Copper-plate  Workers ;  Practical  Geometry ; 
Mensuration  of  Surfaces  and  Solids ;  Tables  of  the  Weights  of  Metals, 
Lead  Pipe,  etc. ;  Tables  of  Areas  and  Circumferences  of  Circles ; 
Japan,  Varnishes,  Lackers,  Cements,  Compositions,  etc.,  etc.  By 
LEROY  J.  BI.INN,  Master  Mechanic.  With  over  100  Illustrations. 
12mo $2.50 

BOOTH.— Marble  Worker's  Manual: 
Containing  Practical  Information  respecting  Marbles  in  general,  their 
Cutting,  Working,  and  Polishing;  Veneering  of  Marble;  Mosaics; 
Composition  and  Use  of  Artificial  Marble,  Stuccos,  Cements,  Receipts, 
Secrets,  etc.,  etc.  Translated  from  the  French  by  M.  L.  BOOTH. 
With  an  Appendix  concerning  American  Marbles.  12mo.>  cloth.  $1.50 

BOOTH  AND  MORFIT.— The  Encyclopedia  of  Che- 
mistry, Practical  and  Theoretical : 

Embracing  its  application  to  the  Arts,  Metallurgy,  Mineralogy,  Ge- 
ology, Medicine,  and  Pharmacy.  By  JAMES  C.  BOOTH,  Melter  and 
Refiner  in  the  United  States  Mint,  Professor  of  Applied  Chemistry  in 
the  Franklin  Institute,  etc.,  assisted  by  CAMPBELL  MORFIT,  author 
of  "  Chemical  Manipulations,"  etc.  Seventh  edition.  Royal  8vo., 
978  pages,  with  numerous  wood-cuts  and  other  illustrations.  .  $5.00 

BOX.— A  Practical  Treatise  on  Heat : 

As  applied  to  the  Useful  Arts ;  for  the  Use  of  Engineers,  Architects, 
etc.  By  THOMAS  Box,  author  of  "  Practical  Hydraulics."  Illustrated 
by  14  plates  containing  114  figures..  12mo $4.25 

BOX.— Practical  Hydraulics  : 

A  Series,  of  Rules  and  Tables  for  the  use  of  Engineers,  etc.  By 
THOMAS  Box.  12mo $2.50 

BROWN.— Five    Hundred     and     Seven    Mechanical 

Movements : 

Embracing  all  those  which  are  most  important  in  Dynamics.  Hydrau- 
lics, Hydrostatics,  Pneumatics,  Steam  Engines,  Mill  and  otner  Gear- 
ing, Presses,  Horology,  and  Miscellaneous  Machinery  ;  and  including 
many  movements  never  before  published,  and  several  of  which  have 
only  recently  come  into  use.  Bv  HKXKY  T.  BROWN,  Editor  of  the 
"  American  Artisan."  In  one  volume,.  12mou  ..  .  .  $1.00 


HENRY  CAREY  BAIRD'S  CATALOGUE.  5 

BUCKMASTER.— The  Elements  of  Mechanical  Phy- 
sics : 

By  J.  C.  BUCKMASTER,  late  Student  in  the  Government  School  of 
Mines ;  Certified  Teacher  of  Science  by  the  Department  of  Science 
and  Art ;  Examiner  in  Chemistry  and  Physics  in  the  Royal  College 
of  Preceptors ;  and  late  Lecturer  in  Chemistry  and  Physics  of  the 
Royal  Polytechnic  Institute.  Illustrated  with  numerous  engravings. 
In  one  volume,  12mo .  .  $1.50 

BULLOCK.— The  American  Cottage  Builder: 

A  Series  of  Designs,  Plans,  and  Specifications,  from  $200  to  $20,000, 
for  Homes  for  the  People;  together  with  Warming,  Ventilation, 
Drainage,  Painting,  and  Landscape  Gardening.  By  JOHN  BULLOCK, 
Architect,  Civil  Engineer,  Mechanician,  and  Editor  of  "  The  Rudi- 
ments of  Architecture  and  Building,"  etc.,  etc.  Illustrated  by  75  en- 
gravings. In  one  volume,  8vo $3.50 

BULLOCK.  — The    Rudiments    of   Architecture   and 
Building : 

For  the  use  of  Architects,  Builders,  Draughtsmen,  Machinists,  Engi- 
neers, and  Mechanics.  Edited  by  JOHN  BULLOCK,  author  of  "  The 
American  Cottage  Builder."  Illustrated  by  250  engravings.  In  one 
volume,  8vo $3.50 

BURGH. — Practical  Illustrations  of  Land  and  Marine 

Engines : 

Showing  in  detail  the  Modern  Improvements  of  High  and  Low  Pres- 
sure, Surface  Condensation,  and  Super-heating,  together  with  Land 
and  Marine  Boilers.  By  N.  P.  BURGH,  Engineer.  Illustrated  by 
20  plates,  double  elephant  folio,  with  text .  .  .  .  $21.00 

BURGH.— Practical  Rules  for  the  Proportions  of  Mo- 
dern Engines  and  Boilers  for  Land  and  Marine 
Purposes. 
By  N.  P.  BURGH,  Engineer.    12mo $1.50 

BURGH.— The  Slide-Valve  Practically  Considered. 

By  N.  P.  BURGH,  Engineer.     Completely  illustrated.     12mo.      $2.00 

BYLES.— Sophisms  of  Free  Trade  and  Popular  Politi- 
cal Economy  Examined. 

By  a  BARRISTER  (Sir  JOHN  BARNARD  BYLES,  Judge  of  Common 
Pleas).  First  American  from  the  Ninth  English  Edition,  as  published 
by  the  Manchester  Reciprocity  Association.  In  one  volume,  12mo. 
Paper,  75  cts.  Cloth $1.25 

PYRN.— The  Complete  Practical  Brewer : 

Or  Plain,  Accurate,  and  Thorough  Instructions  in  the  Art  of  Brewing 
Beer,  Ale,  Porter,  including  the  Process  of  making  Bavarian  Beer, 
all  the  Small  Beers,  such  as  Root-beer,  Ginger-pop,  Sarsaparilla- 
beer,  Mead,  Spruce  Beer,  etc.,  etc.  Adapted  to  the  use  of  Public 
Brewers  and  Private  Families.  By  M.  LA  FAYETTK  BYRN,  M.  D. 
With  illustrations.  12mo $1.25 


6  HENRY  CAREY  BAIRD'S  CATALOGUE. 

BYRN.— The  Complete  Practical  Distiller : 

Comprising  the  most  perfect  and  exact  Theoretical  and  Practical  De- 
scription of  the  Art  ot  Distillation  and  Rectification  ;  including  all  of 
the  most  recent  improvements  in  distilling  apparatus;  instructions 
for  preparing  spirits  from  the  numerous  vegetables,  fruits,  etc. ;  direc- 
tions for  the  distillation  and  preparation  ot  all  kinds  of  brandies  ami 
other  spirits,  spirituous  and  other  compounds,  etc.,  etc.  By  M.  I. A 
FAYETTE  BYRN,  M.  D.  Eighth  Edition.  To  which  are  added  Prac- 
tical Directions  for  Distilling,  from  the  French  of  Th.  Fling,  Brewer 
and  Distiller.  12mo $1.50 

BYRNE.— Handbook  for  the  Artisan,  Mechanic,  and 

Engineer : 

Comprising  the  Grinding  and  Sharpening  of  Cutting  Tools,  Abrasive 
Processes,  Lapidary  Work,  Gem  and  Glass  Engraving,  Yariii-liin<,' 
and  Lackering,  Apparatus,  Materials  and  Processes  for  Grinding  ami 
Polishing,  etc.  By  OLIVER  BYRNE.  Illustrated  by  185  wood  en- 
gravings. In  one  volume,  8vo $5.00 

BYRNE.— Pocket  Book  for  Railroad  and  Civil  Engi- 
neers : 

Containing  New,  Exact,  and  Concise  Methods  for  Laying  out  Rail- 
road Curves,  Switches,  Frog  Angles,  and  Crossings;  the  Staking 
out  of  work;  Levelling;  the  Calculation  of  Cuttings;  Embankments; 
Earth-work,  etc.  By  OLIVER  BYRNE.  18mo.,  full  bound,  pocket- 
book  form >l.7.~> 

BYRNE.— The  Practical  Model  Calculator : 
For  the  Engineer,  Mechanic,  Manufacturer  of  Engine  Work,  Naval 
Architect,  Miner,  and  Millwright.     By  OLIVER  BYRNE.     1  volume, 
8vo.,  nearly  600  pages $4.50 

BYRNE. — The  Practical  Metal- Worker's  Assistant: 
Comprising  Metallurgic  Chemistry ;  the  Arts  of  Working  all  Metals 
and  Alloys;  Forging  of  Iron  and  Steel;  Hardening  and  Tempering; 
Melting  and  Mixing;  Casting  and  Founding;  Works  in  Sheet  Metal ; 
The  Processes  Dependent  on  the  Ductility  of  the  Metals;  Suldcrinv  ; 
and  the  most  Improved  Processes  and  Tools  employed  1>\  Metal- 
workers. With  the  Application  of  the  Art  of  Electro-Metulluii:}  to 
Manufacturing  Processes;  collected  from  Original  Sources,  and  from 
the  Works  of  Holtzapflfel,  Bergeron,  Leupold,  Plumier,  Napier, 
Scoffern,  Clay,  Fairbairn,  and  others.  By  OLIVER  Bvr.Ni..  A  new, 
revised,  ami  improved  edition,  to  which  is  added  An  Appendix,  con- 
taining THE  MANUFACTURE  OF  RUSSIAN  SHEET-IRON.  By  JOHN 
PERCY,  M.  D.,  F.R.S.  THE  MANUFACTURE  OF  MALLEABLE  Ii:ox 
CASTINGS,  and  IMPROVEMENTS  IN  BESSEMEK  STI:I:I..  i:\  A.  A. 
FESQUET,  Chemist  and  Engineer.  With  over  (i(K)  Engravings,  illus- 
trating every  Branch  of  the  Subject.  8vo $7.00 

Cabinet  Maker's  Album  of  Furniture : 

Comprising  a  Collection  of  Designs  for  Furniture.  Illustrated  by  48 
Large  and  Beautifully  Engraved  Plates.  In  one  vol.,  oblong  $5.00 


HENRY  CAREY   BAIRD'S  CATALOGUE.  7 

CALLINGHAM.— Sign  Writing  and    Glass   Emboss- 
ing: 

A  Complete  Practical  Illustrated  Manual  of  the  Art.  By  JAMES 
CALLINGHAM.  In  one  volume,  12mo $1.50 

CAMPIN. — A  Practical  Treatise  on  Mechanical  Engi- 
neering : 

Comprising  Metallurgy,  Moulding^  Casting,  Forging,  Tools,  Work- 
shop Machinery,  Mechanical  Manipulation.  Manufacture  of  Steam- 
engines,  etc.,  etc.  With  an  Appendix  on  the  Analysis  of  Iron  and 
Iron  Ores.  By  FRANCIS  C AMPIN,  C.  E.  To  which  are  added,  Obser- 
vations on  the  Construction  of  Steam  Boilers,  and  Remarks  upon 
Furnaces  used  for  Smoke  Prevention ;  with  a  Chapter  on  Explosions. 
By  R.  Armstrong,  C.  E.,  and  John  Bourne.  Rules  for  Calculating 
the  Change  Wheels  for  Screws  on  a  Turning  Lathe,  and  for  a  Wheel- 
cutting  Machine.  By  J.  LA  NiCCA.  Management  of  Steel,  Includ- 
ing Forging,  Hardening,  Tempering,  Annealing,  Shrinking,  and  Ex- 
pansion. And  the  Case-hardening  of  Iron.  By  G.  EDE.  8vo.  Illus- 
trated with  29  plates  and  100  wood  engravings  .  .  .  $6.00 

CAMPIN.— The  Practice  of  Hand-Turning  in  Wood, 

Ivory,  Shell,  etc. : 

With  Instructions  for  Turning  such  works  in  Metal  as  may  be  re- 
quired in  the  Practice  of  Turning  Wood,  Ivory,  etc.  Also,  au  Appen- 
dix on  Ornamental  Turning.  By  FRANCIS  CAMPIN;  with  Numerous 
Illustrations.  12mo.,  cloth $3.00 

CAREY.— The  Works  of  Henry  C.  Carey  : 
FINANCIAL  CRISES,  their  Causes  and  Effects.   8vo.  paper  .        25 
HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS:  Agricultural,  Manufacturing,  and 

Commercial.    8vo.,  cloth $1.50 

MANUAL  OF  SOCIAL  SCIENCE.  Condensed  from  Carey's  "  Prin- 
ciples of  Social  Science."  By  KATE  McKEAN.  1  vol.  12mo.  $2.25 
MISCELLANEOUS  WORKS  :  comprising  "  Harmony  of  Interests," 
"  Money,"  "  Letters  to  the  President,"  Financial  Crises,"  "  The 
Way  to  Outdo  England  Without  Fighting  Her,"  "  Resources  of 
the  Union,"  "The  Public  Debt,"  "Contraction  or  Expansion?" 
"  Review  of  the  Decade  1857-'67,"  "  Reconstruction,"  etc..  etc. 

Two  vols.,  8vo.,  cloth $10.00 

PAST,  PRESENT,  AND  FUTURE.    8vo $2.50 

PRINCIPLES  OF  SOCIAL  SCIENCE.    3  vols.,  8vo.,  cloth      $10.00 

THE  SLAVE-TRADE,  DOMESTIC  AND  FOREIGN ;  Why  it  Ex- 

ists,  and  How  it  may  be  Extinguished  (1853).  8vo.,  cloth     .    $2.00 

LETTERS  ON  INTERNATIONAL  COPYRIGHT  (1867)       .        50 

THE  UNITY  OF  LAW :  As  Exhibited  in  the  Relations  of  Physical, 

Social,  Mental,  and  Moral  Science  (1872).     In  one  volume,  8vo., 

pp.  xxiii.,  433.     Cloth $3.50 

CHAPMAN. — A  Treatise  on  Ropemaking : 

As  Practised  in  private  and  public  Rope  yards,  with  a  Description 
of  the  Manufacture,  Rules,  Tables  of  Weights,  etc.,  adapted  to  the 
Trades,  .Shipping,  Mining,  Railways,  Builders,  etc.  By  ROBERT 
CHAPMAN,  24mo $1.50 


8  HENRY  CAREY  BAIRD'S  CATALOGUE. 

COLBURN.— The  Locomotive  Engine  : 
Including  a  Description  of  its  Structure,  Rules  for  Estimating  its  Capa- 
bilities, and  Practical  Observations  on  its  Construction  and  Manage- 
ment. By  ZERAH  COLBUKN.  Illustrated.  A  new  edition.  12mo.    $1.25 

CBAIK.  —  The    Practical   American    Millwright   and 

Miller. 

By  DAVID  CRAIK.  Millwright.  Illustrated  by  numerous  wood  en- 
gravings, and  two  folding  plates.  8vo $5.00 

DE  GRAFF.— The  Geometrical  Stair  Builders'  Guide : 
Being  a  Plain  Practical  System  of  Hand-Railing,  embracing  all  its 
necessary  Details,  and  Geometrically  Illustrated  by  22  Steel  Engrav- 
ings ;  together  with  the  use  of  the  most  approved  principles  of  Prac- 
tical Geometry.  By  SIMON  DE  GRAFF,  Architect.  4to.  .  $5.00 

DE  KONINCK.— DIETZ.— A  Practical  Manual  of  Che- 
mical Analysis  and  Assaying : 

As  applied  to  the  Manufacture  of  Iron  from  its  Ores,  and  to  Cast  Iron, 
Wrought  Iron,  and  Steel,  as  found  in  Commerce.  By  L.  L.  DE  KON- 
INCK,  Dr.  Sc.,  and  E.  DIETZ,  Engineer.  Edited  with  Notes,  by  ROBERT 
MALLET,  F.R.S.,  F.S.G.,  M.I.C.E.,  etc.  American  Edition,  Edited 
with  Notes  and  an  Appendix  on  Iron  Ores,  by  A.  A.  FESQCET,  Chemist 
and  Engineer.  One  volume,  12mo. $2.50 

DUNCAN.— Practical  Surveyor's  Guide: 
Containing  the  necessary  information  to  make  any  person,  of  common 
capacity,  a  finished  land  surveyor  without  the  aii  of  a  teacher.     By 
ANDREW  DUNCAN.    Illustrated.    12mo.,  cloth.    .        .       .       $1.25 

DTJPLAIS. — A  Treatise  on  the  Manufacture  and  Dis- 
tillation of  Alcoholic  Liquors : 

Comprising  Accurate  and  Complete  Details  in  Regard  to  Alcohol  from 
Wine,  Molasses,  Beets,  Grain,  Rice,  Potatoes,  Sorghum,  Asphodel, 
Fruits,  etc. ;  with  the  Distillation  and  Rectification  of  Brandy,  Whis- 
key, Rum,  Gin,  Swiss  Absinthe,  etc.,  the  Preparation  of  Aromatic  Wa- 
ters, Volatile  Oils  or  Essences,  Sugars,  Syrups,  Aromptic  Tinctures, 
Liqueurs,  Cordial  Wines.  Effervescing  Wines,  etc.,  the  Aging  of  Brandy 
ana  the  Improvement  of  Spirits,  with  Copious  Directio>  s  and  Tables 
for  Testing  and  Reducing  Spirituous  Liquors,  etc.,  etc.  Translated 
and  Edited  from  the  French  of  MM.  DUPLAIS,  Ain6  et  Jeune.  By 
M.  McKENNIE,  M.D.  To  which  are  added  the  United  States  Internal 
Revenue  Regulations  for  the  Assessment  and  Collection  of  Taxes  on 
Distilled  Spirits.  Illustrated  by  fourteen  folding  plates  and  several 
wood  engravings.  743  pp.,  8vo $10.00 

DUSSATTCE.— A  General  Treatise  on  the  Manufacture 

of  Every  Description  of  Soap : 

Comprising  the  Chemistry  of  the  Art,  with  Remarks  on  Alkalies,  Sa- 
poninable  Fatty  Bodies,  the  apparatus  necessary  in  a  Soap  Factory, 
Practical  Instructions  in  the  manufacture  of  the  various  kinds  of  Snap, 
the  assay  of  Soaps,  etc.,  etc.  Edited  from  Notes  of  Larmo,  Fontent-llc, 
Malapayre,  Dufonr,  and  others,  with  large  and  important  additions  by 
Prof.  H.  DUSSAUCE,  Chemist.  Illustrated.  In  one  vol.,  8vo.  .  $10.00 


HENRY  CAREY  BAIRD'S  CATALOGUE.  9 

DUSSAUCE.— A  General  Treatise  on  the  Manufacture 

of  Vinegar : 

Theoretical  and  Practical.  Comprising  the  various  Methods,  by  the 
Slow  and  the  Quick  Processes,  with  Alcohol,  Wine,  Grain.  Malt  Cider 
Molasses,  and  Beets ;  as  well  as  the  Fabrication  of  Wood  Vinegar  etc.' 
etc.  By  Prof.  H.  DUSSAUCE.  In  one  volume,  8vo.  .  .  $5.00 

DUSSATJCE.— A  New  and  Complete  Treatise  on  the 
Arts  of  Tanning,  Currying,  and  Leather  Dressing : 

Comprising  all  the  Discoveries  and  Improvements  made  in  France 
Great  Britain,  and  the  United  States.  Edited  from  Notes  and  Docu- 
ments of  Messrs.  Sallerou,  Grouvelle,  Duval,  Dessables,  Labarraque 
Payen,  Rene,  De  Fontenelle,  Malapeyre,  etc.,  etc.  By  Prof.  H.  Dus- 
SAUCE,  Chemist.  Illustrated  by  212  wood  engravings.  8vo.  $25.00 

DUSSATJCE.— A  Practical  Guide  for  the  Perfumer  : 

Being  a  New  Treatise  on  Perfumery,  the  most  favorable  to  the  Beauty 
without  being  injurious  to  the  Health,  comprising  a  Description  of  the 
substances  used  in  Perfumery,  the  Formulae  of  more  than  1000  Prepa- 
rations, such  as  Cosmetics,  Perfumed  Oils,  Tooth  Powders,  Waters, 
Extracts,  Tinctures,  Infusions,  Spirits,  Vinaigres,  Essential  Oils,  Pas- 
tels, Creams,  Soaps,  and  many  new  Hygienic  Products  not  hitherto 
described.  Edited  from  Notes  and  Documents  of  Messrs.  Debay,  LB- 
nel,  etc.  With  additions  by  Prof.  H.  DUSSAUCE,  Chemist.  12mo.  $3.00 

DUSSAUCE. — Practical   Treatise    on  the  Fabrication 

of  Matches,  Gun  Cotton,  and  Fulminating  Powders. 

By  Prof.  H.  DUSSAUCE.     12mo $3.00 

Dyer  and  Color-maker's  Companion: 

Containing  upwards  of  200  Receipts  for  making  Colors,  on  the  most 
approved  principles,  for  all  the  various  styles  and  fabrics  now  in  exist- 
ence ;  with  the  Scouring  Process,  and  plain  Directions  for  Preparing, 
Washing-off,  and  Finishing  the  Goods.  In  one  vol.,  12mo.  .  $1.25 

EASTOW.— A  Practical  Treatise  on  Street  or  Horse- 
power Railways. 

By  ALEXANDER  EASTON,  C.  E.  Illustrated  by  23  plates.  8vo., 
cloth $2.00 

ELDER.— Questions  of  the  Day: 

Economic  and  Social.    By  Dr.  WILLIAM  ELDER.    8vo.       .        $3.00 

FAIRBAIRN.— The  Principles  of  Mechanism  and  Ma- 
chinery of  Transmission : 

Comprising  the  Principles  of  Mechanism,  Wheels,  and  Pulleys, 
Strength  and  Proportions  of  Shafts,  Coupling  of  Shafts,  and  Engaging 
and  Disengaging  Gear.  By  Sir  WILLIAM  FAIRBAIRN,  C.E.,  LL.D., 
F.R.S.,  F.G.S.  Beautifully  illustrated  by  over  150  wood-cuts.  In 
one  volume,  12mo $2.50 

FORSYTH.— Book  of  Designs  for  Headstones,  Mural, 

and  other  Monuments : 

Containing  78  Designs.  By  JAMES  FORSYTH.  With  an  Introduction 
by  CHARLES  BOUTELL,  M.  A.  4to.,  cloth $5.00 


10  HENRY  CAREY  BAIRD'S  CATALOGUE. 

GIBSON. — The  American  Dyer: 

A  Practical  Treatise  on  the  Coloring  of  Wool,  Cotton,  Yarn  and 
Cloth,  in  three  parts.  Part  First  gives  a  descriptive  account  of  th" 
Dye  Stuffs;  if  of  vegetable  .origin,  where  produced,  how  cultivated, 
ami  how  prepared  for  use;  if  chemical,  their  composition,  specific 
gravities,  and  general  adaptability,  how  adulterated,  and  how  to  de- 
tect the  adulterations,  etc.  Part  Second  is  devoted  to  the  Coloring  of 
Wool,  giving  recipes  for  one  hundred  and  twenty-nine  different  colors 
or  shades,  and  is  supplied  with  sixty  colored  samples  of  Wool.  l':;rt 
Third  is  devoted  to  the  Coloring  of  Raw  Cotton  or  Cotton  Wn<te.  tin- 
mixing  with  Wool  Colors  in  the  Manufacture  of  all  kinds  of  Fabrics, 
gives  recipes  for  thirty-eight  different  colors  or  shades,  and  is  supplied 
with  twenty-four  colored  samples  of  Cotton  Waste.  Also,  recipes  tin- 
Coloring  Beavers,  Doeskins,  and  Flannels,  with  remarks  upon  Ani- 
lines, giving  recipes  for  fifteen  different  colors  or  shades,  and  nine 
samples  of  Aniline  Colors  that  will  stand  both  the  Fulling  and  Scour- 
ing process.  Also,  recipes  for  Aniline  Colors  on  Cotton  Thread,  and 
recipes  for  Common  Colors  on  Cotton  Yarns.  Embracing  in  all  over 
two  hundred  recipes  for  Colors  and  Shades,  and  ninety-four  samples 
of  Colored  Wool  and  Cotton  Waste,  etc.  By  RICHARD  H.  GIIISON, 
Practical  Dyer  and  Chemist.  In  one  volume,  8vo.  .  .  $12.50 

GILBART.— History  and  Principles  of  Banking : 
A  Practical  Treatise.    By  JAMES  W.  GILBART,  late  Manager  of  the 
London  and  Westminster  Bank.    With  additions.     In  one  volume, 
8vo.,  600  pages,  sheep $5.00 

Gothic  Album  for  Cabinet  Makers : 

Comprising  a  Collection  of  Designs  for  Gothic  Furniture.  Illustrated 
by  23  large  and  beautifully  engraved  plates.  Oblong  .  .  is'i.uii 

GRANT.  —  Beet-root   Sugar   and   Cultivation   of   the 

Beet. 
By  E.  B.  GRANT.    12mo $1.25 

GREGORY.— Mathematics  for  Practical  Men : 
Adapted  to  the  Pursuits  of  Surveyors,  Architects,  Mechanics,  and 
Civil  Engineers.    By  OLINTHUS  GREGORY.    8vo.,  plates,  doth   $3.00 

GRISWOLD.— Railroad  Engineer's  Pocket   Compan- 
ion for  the  Field : 

Comprising  Rules  for  Calculating  Deflection  Distances  and  Andes, 
Tangential  Distances  and  Angles,  and  all  Necessary  Tables  for  Engi- 
neers ;  also  the  art  of  Levelling  from  Preliminary  Survey  to  the  <  '011- 
struction  of  Railroads,  intended  Kxpressly  for  the  Yonnu'  Knirinecr, 
together  with  Numerous  Valuable  Rules  and  Examples.  By  \\~. 
GRISWOLD.  12mo.,  tucks $1.75 

GRUNER. — Studies  of  Blast  Furnace  Phenomena. 
By  M.  L.  GRUNER,  President  of  the  General  Council  of  >iines  of 
France,  and  latelv  Professor  of  Metallurgy  at  the  Ecole  des  Mines. 
Translated,  with  the  Author's  sanction,  with  an  Appendix,  byL.  D.  B. 
Gordon,  F,  R,  S,  E..  F.  G.  8.     Illustrated.     8vo.      .        .        .        $2.50 


HENRY  CAREY  BAIRD'S  CATALOGUE.  11 

GUETTIER.— Metallic  Alloys: 

Being  a  Practical  Guide  to  their  Chemical  and  Physical  Properties, 
their  Preparation,  Composition,  and  Uses.  Translated  from  the 
French  of  A.  GUETTIER,  Engineer  and  Director  of  Foundries,  author 
of"  La  Fouderie  en  France,"  etc.,  ete.  By  A.  A.  FESQUET,  Chemist 
and  Engineer.  In  one  volume,  12mo $3.00 

HARRIS.— Gas  Superintendent's  Pocket  Companion. 

By  HAREIS  &  BROTHER,  Gas  Meter  Manufacturers,  1115  and  1117 
Cnerry  Street,  Philadelphia.  Full  bound  in  pocket-book  form  $2.00 

Hats  and  Felting: 

A  Practical  Treatise  on  their  Manufacture.  By  a  Practical  Hatter. 
Illustrated  by  Drawings  of  Machinery,  etc.  8vo.  .  .  .  $1.25 

HOFMANN. — A  Practical  Treatise  on  the  Manufac- 
ture of  Paper  in  all  its  Branches. 

By  CARL  HOFMANN.  Late  Superintendent  of  paper  mills  in  Ger- 
many and  the  United  States ;  recently  manager  of  the  Public  Ledger 
Paper  Mills,  near  Elkton,  Md.  Illustrated  by  110  wood  engravings, 
and  five  large  folding  plates.  In  one  volume,  4to.,  cloth;  398 
pages $15.00 

HUGHES. — American  Miller  and  Millwright's  Assist- 
ant. 
By  WM.  CARTER  HUGHES.  A  new  edition.   In  one  vol.,  12mo.  $1.50 

HURST. — A  Hand-Book  for  Architectural  Surveyors 
and  others  engaged  in  Building: 

Containing  Formulae  useful  in  Designing  Builder's  work,  Table  of 
Wrights,  of  the  materials  used  in  Building,  Memoranda  connected 
with  Builders'  work,  Mensuration,  the  Practice  of  Builders'  Measure- 
ment, Contracts  of  Labor,  Valuation  of  Property,  Summary  of  the 
Practice  in  Dilapidation,  etc.,  etc.  By  J.  F.  HURST,  C.  E.  Second 
edition,  pocket-book  form,  full  bound $2.50 

JERVIS.— Railway  Property : 

A  Treatise  on  the  Construction  and  Management  of  Railways ;  de- 
signed to  afford  useful  knowledge,  in  the  popular  style,  to  the  holders 
of  this  class  of  property;  as  well  as  Railway  Managers,  Officers,  and 
Agents.  By  JOHN  B.  JERVIS,  late  Chief  Engineer  of  the  Hudson 
River  Railroad,  Croton  Aqueduct,  etc.  In  one  vol.,  12mo.,  cloth  $2.00 

JOHNSTON.— Instructions  for  the  Analysis  of  Soils, 

Limestones,  and  Manures. 
By  J.  F.  W.  JOHNSTON.    12mo 38 


12  HENRY  CAREY  BAIRD'S  CATALOGUE. 

KEENE.— A  Hand-Book  of  Practical  Gauging : 
For  the  Use  of  Beginners,  to  which  is  added,  A  Chapter  on  Distilla- 
tion, describing  the  process  in  operation  at  the  Custom  House  for 
ascertaining  the  strength  of  wines.    By  JAMES  B.  KEENE,  of  H.  M. 
Customs.    8vo. $1.25 

KELLEY. — Speeches,  Addresses,  and  Letters  on  In- 
dustrial and  Financial  Questions. 

By  Hon.  WILLIAM  D.  KELLEY,  M.  C.  In  one  volume,  544  pages, 
8vo $3.00 

KENTISH.— A  Treatise  on  a  Box  of  Instruments, 
And  the  Slide  Rule ;  with  the  Theory  of  Trigonometry  and  Loga- 
rithms, including  Practical  Geometry,  Surveying,  Measuring  of  Tim- 
ber, Cask  and  Malt  Gauging,  Heights,  and  Distances.    By  THOMAS 
KENTISH.    In  one  volume.    12mo $1.25 

KOBELL.—ERNI.— Mineralogy  Simplified : 
A  short  Method  of  Determining  and  Classifying  Minerals,  by  means 
of  simple  Chemical  Experiments  in  the  Wet  Way.  Translated  from 
the  last  German  Edition  of  F.  VON  KOBELL,  with  an  Introduction  to 
Blow-pipe  Analysis  and  other  additions.  By  HENRI  ERNI,  M.  D., 
late  Chief  Chemist,  Department  of  Agriculture,  author  of  "  Coal  Oil 
and  Petroleum."  In  one  volume,  12mo.  ....  $2.50 

LANDRIN.— A  Treatise  on  Steel: 

Comprising  its  Theory,  Metallurgy,  Properties,  Practical  Working, 
and  Use.  By  M.  H.  C.  LANDRIN,  Jr.,  Civil  Engineer.  Translated 
from  the  French,  with  Notes,  by  A.  A.  FESQUET,  Chemist  and  Engi- 
neer. With  an  Appendix  on  the  Bessemer  and  the  Martin  Processes 
for  Manufacturing  Steel,  from  the  Report  of  Abram  S.  Hewitt,  United 
States  Commissioner  to  the  Universal  Exposition,  Paris,  1867.  In  one 
volume,  12mo. $3.00 

LARKIN.— The  Practical  Brass  and  Iron  Pounder's 

Guide : 

A  Concise  Treatise  on  Brass  Founding,  Moulding,  the  Metals  and  their 
Alloys,  etc. :  to  which  are  added  Recent  Improvements  in  the  Manu- 
facture of  Iron,  Steel  by  the  Bessemer  Process,  etc.,  etc.  By  J A. Mies 
LARKIN,  late  Conductor  of  the  Brass  Foundry  Department  in  Ri-any, 
Neafie  &  Co's.  Penn  Works,  Philadelphia.  Fifth  edition,  revised, 
with  Extensive  additions.  In  one  volume,  12mo.  .  .  $2.25 

LEA VITT.— Pacts  about  Peat  as  an  Article  of  Fuel : 
With  Remarks  upon  its  Origin  and  Composition,  the  Localities  in 
which  it  is  found,  the  Methods  of  Preparation  and  Manufacture,  and 
the  various  Uses  to  which  it  is  applicable  ;  together  with  many  other 
matters  of  Practical  and  Scientific  Interest.  To  which  is  added  a  chap- 
ter on  the  Utilization  of  Coal  Dust  with  Peat  for  the  Production  of  an 
Excellent  Fuel  at  Moderate  Cost,  specially  adapted  for  Steam  Service. 
By  T.  H.  LEA  VITT.  Third  edition.  12mo.  .  .  .  $1.75 


HENRY  CAEEY  BAIRD'S  CATALOGUE.  13 

LEROUX,  C. — A  Practical  Treatise  on  the  Manufac- 
ture of  Worsteds  and  Carded  Yarns : 

Comprising  Practical  Mechanics,  with  Rules  and  Calculations  applied 
to  Spinning ;  Sorting,  Cleaning,  and  Scouring  Wools ;  the  English 
and  French  methods  of  Combing,  Drawing,  and  Spinning  Worsteds 
and  Manufacturing  Carded  Yarns.  Translated  from  the  French  of 
CHARLES  LEROUX,  Mechanical  Engineer,  and  Superintendent  of  a 
Spinning  Mill,  by  HORATIO  PAINE,  M.  D.,  and  A.  A.  FESQUET, 
Chemist  and  Engineer.  Illustrated  by  12  large  Plates.  To  which  is 
added  an  Appendix,  containing  extracts  from  the  Reports  of  the  Inter- 
national Jury,  and  of  the  Artisans  selected  by  the  Committee  appointed 
by  the  Council  of  the  Society  of  Arts,  London,  on  Woollen  and  Worsted 
Machinery  and  Fabrics,  as  exhibited  in  the  Paris  Universal  Exposi- 
tion, 1867.  8vo.,  cloth $5.00 

LESLIE  (Miss).— Complete  Cookery: 

Directions  for  Cookery  in  its  Various  Branches.  By  Miss  LESLIE. 
60th  thousand.  Thoroughly  revised,  with  the  addition  of  New  Re- 
ceipts. In  one  volume,  12mo.,  cloth.  .  .  .  .  $1.50 

LESLIE  (Miss).— Ladies'  House  Book : 
A  Manual  of  Domestic  Economy.    20th  revised  edition.    12mo.,  cloth. 

LESLIE  (Miss). — Two  Hundred  Receipts  in  Trench 
Cookery. 

Cloth,  12mo. 

LIEBER.— Assayer's  Guide : 

Or,  Practical  Directions  to  Assayers,  Miners,  and  Smelters,  for  the 
Tests  and  Assays,  by  Heat  and  by  Wet  Processes,  for  the  Ores  of  all 
the  principal  Metals,  of  Gold  and  Silver  Coins  and  Alloys,  and  of 
Coal,  etc.  By  OSCAR  M.  LIEBER.  12mo.,  cloth.  .  .  $1.25 

LOTH.— The  Practical  Stair  Builder: 

A  Complete  Treatise  on  the  Art  of  Building  Stairs  and  Hand-Rails. 
Designed  for  Carpenters,  Builders,  and  Stair-Builders.  Illustrated 
with  Thirty  Original  Plates.  By  C.  EDWARD  LOTH,  Professional 
Stair-Builder.  One  large  4to.  volume.  ....  $10.00 

LOVE. — The  Art  of  Dyeing,  Cleaning,  Scouring,  and 
Finishing,  on  the  Most  Approved  English  and 
French  Methods: 

Being  Practical  Instructions  in  Dyeing  Silks,  Woollens,  and  Cottons, 
Feathers,  Chips,  Straw,  etc.  Scouring  and  Cleaning  Bed  and  Window 
Curtains,  Carpets,  Rugs,  etc.  French  and  English  Cleaning,  any 
Color  or  Fabric  of  Silk,  Satin,  or  Damask.  By  THOMAS  LOVE,  a 
Working  Dyer  and  Scourer.  Second  American  Edition,  to  which  are 
added  General  Instructions  for  the  Use  of  Aniline  Colors.  In  one 
volume,  8vo.,  343  pages. $5.00 


14       HENRY  CAREY  BAIRD'S  CATALOGUE. 

MAIN   and   BROWN.— Questions    on    Subjects    Con- 
nected with  the  Marine  Steam-Engine : 
And  Examination  Papers :  with  Hints  for  their  Solution.     By  THOMAS 
J.  MAIN,  Professor  of  Mathematics,  Royal  Naval  College,  and  THOMAS 
BROWN,  Chief  Engineer,  R.  N.     12mo",  cloth.       .        .        .        $1.50 

MAIN  and  BROWN.— The  Indicator  and  Dynamo- 
meter : 

With  their  Practical  Applications  to  the  Steam-Engine.  By  THOMAS 
J.  MAIN,  M.  A.F.  R.,  Assistant  Professor  Royal  Naval  College,  Ports- 
mouth, and  THOMAS  BROWN,  Assoc.  Inst.  C.  E.,  Chief  Engineer,  R. 
N.,  attached  to  the  Royal  Naval  College.  Illustrated.  From  the 
Fourth  London  Edition.  8vo. $1.50 

MAIN  and  BROWN.— The  Marine  Steam-Engine. 
By  THOMAS  J.  MAIN,  F.  R. ;  Assistant  S.  Mathematical  Professor  at 
the  Royal  Naval  College,  Portsmouth,  and  THOMAS  BROWN,  Assoc. 
Inst.  C.  E.,  Chief  Engineer  R.  N.  Attached  to  the  Royal  Naval  Col- 
lege. Authors  of  "  Questions  connected  with  the  Marine  Steam-En- 
gine," and  the  "  Indicator  and  Dynamometer."  With  numerous  Illus- 
trations. In  one  volume,  8vo. $5.00 

MARTIN.— Screw-Cutting  Tables,  for  the  Use  of  Me- 
chanical Engineers : 

Showfng  the  Proper  Arrangement  of  Wheels  for  Cutting  the  Threads 
of  Screws  of  any  required  Pitch  ;  with  a  Table  for  Making  the  Uni- 
versal Gas-Pipe  Thread  and  Taps.  By  W.  A.  MARTIN,  Engineer. 
8vo 50 

Mechanics'  (Amateur)  Workshop: 

A  treatise  containing  plain  and  concise  directions  for  the  manipula- 
tion of  Wood  and  Metals,  including  Casting,  Forging,  Braxinir,  Sol- 
dering, and  Carpentry.     By  the  author  of  the  "  Lathe  and  its  I 
Third  edition.     Illustrated.     8vo £."..00 

MOLESWORTH.— Pocket-Book  of  Useful  Formulae 
and  Memoranda  for  Civil  and  Mechanical  Engi- 
neers. 

By  GIJILFORD  L.  MOLESWORTH,  Member  of  the  Institution  of  Civil 
Engineers,  Chief  Resident  Engineer  of  the  Ceylon  Railway.  Second 
American,  from  the  Tenth  London  Edition.  In  one  volume,  full 
bound  in  pocket-book  form Si'.no 

NAPIER. — A  System  of  Chemistry  Applied  to  Dyeing. 
By  JAMES  NAPIER,  F.  C.  S.  A  New  and  Thoroughly  Revised  K<li- 
tion.  Completely  brought  up  to  the  present  state  of  the  Science,  inclu- 
ding the  Chemistry  of  Coal  Tar  Colors,  by  A.  A.  Fi-xjri.r,  <  hem  1st 
and  Engineer.  With  an  Appendix  on  Dyeing  and  ( 'alico  1'rintinir,  as 
shown  at  the  Universal  Exposition,  Paris,  1867.  Illustrated.  In  one 
Volume,  8vo.,  41'2  pages $5.00 


HENRY  CAREY  BAIRD'S  CATALOGUE.  15 

NAPIER.— Manual  of  Electro-Metallurgy : 

Including  the  Application  of  the  Art  to  Manufacturing  Processes.  By 
JAMES  NAPIER.  Fourth  American,  from  the  Fourth  London  edition, 
revised  and  enlarged.  Illustrated  by  engravings.  In  one  vol.,  8vo.  $2.00 

NASON. — Table  of  Reactions  for  Qualitative  Chemical 

Analysis. 

By  HENRY  B.  NASON,  Professor  of  Chemistry  in  the  Rensselaer  Poly- 
technic Institute,  Troy,  New  York.  Illustrated  by  Colors.  .  63 

NEWBERY.— Gleanings     from    Ornamental    Art    of 

every  style : 

Drawn  from  Examples  in  the  British,  South  Kensington,  Indian, 
Crystal  Palace,  and  other  Museums,  the  Exhibitions  of  1851  and  1862, 
and  the  best  English  and  Foreign  works.  In  a  series  of  one  hundred 
exquisitely  drawn  Plates,  containing  many  hundred  examples.  By 
ROBERT  NEWBERY.  4to $15.00 

NICHOLSON.— A  Manual  of  the  Art  of  Bookbinding : 

Containing  full  instructions  in  the  different  Branches  of  Forwarding, 
Gilding,  and  Finishing.  Also,  the  Art  of  Marbling  Book-edges  and 
Paper.  By  JAMES  B.  NICHOLSON.  Illustrated,  l.'mo.,  cloth.  $2.25 

NICHOLSON.— The  Carpenter's  New  Guide: 

A  Complete  Book  of  Lines  for  Carpenters  and  Joiners.  By  PETER 
NICHOLSON.  The  whole  carefully  and  thoroughly  revised  by  H.  K. 
DAVIS,  and  containing  numerous  new  and  improved  and  original  De- 
signs for  Roofs,  Domes,  etc.  By  SAMUEL  SLOAN,  Architect.  Illus- 
trated by  80  plates.  4to. $4.50 

NORRIS.— A  Hand-book  for    Locomotive    Engineers 

and  Machinists: 

Comprising  the  Proportions  and  Calculations  for  Constructing  Loco- 
motives ;  Manner  of  Setting  Valves ;  Tables  of  Squares,  Cubes,  Areas, 
etc.,  etc.  By  SEPTIMUS  NORRIS,  Civil  and  Mechanical  Engineer. 
New  edition.  Illustrated.  12mo.,  cloth $2.00 

NYSTROM.— On    Technological    Education,   and   the 

Construction  of  Ships  and  Screw  Propellers : 
For  Naval  and  Marine  Engineers.     By  JOHN  W.  NYSTROM,  late  Act- 
ing Chief  Engineer,  U.  S.  N.     Second'edition,  revised  with  additional 
matter.     Illustrated  by  seven  engravings.     12mo.          .        .        $1.50 

O'NEILL.— A  Dictionary  of  Dyeing  and  Calico  Print- 
ing: 

Containing  a  brief  account  of  all  the  Substances  and  Processes  in  use 
in  the  Art  of  Dyeing  and  Printing  Textile  Fabrics ;  with  Practical 
Receipts  and  Scientific  Information.  By  CHARLES  O'NEILL,  Ana- 


Essay  on  Coal  Tar  Colors  and  their  application  to  Dyeing  and  Calico 
Printing.  By  A.  A.  FESQUET,  Chemist  and  Engineer.  With  an  Ap- 
pendix on  Dyeing  and  Calico  Printing,  as  shown  at  the  Universal 
Exposition,  Paris,  1867.  In  one  volume,  8vo.,  491  pages.  .  $6.00 


16  HENRY  CAREY  BAIRD'S  CATALOGUE. 

ORTON.— Underground  Treasures : 
How  and  Where  to  Find  Them.    A  Key  for  the  Ready  Determination 
of  all  the  Useful  Minerals  within  the  United  States.      By  JAMES 
ORTON,  A.  M.    Illustrated,  12mo. $1.50 

OSBORN. — American  Mines  and  Mining: 
Theoretically  and  Practically  Considered.     By  Prof.  H.  S.  OSBOKN. 
Illustrated  by  numerous  engravings.    8vo.    (In  preparation.) 

OSBORN.— The  Metallurgy  of  Iron  and  Steel : 

Theoretical  and  Practical  in  all  its  Branches ;  with  special  reference 
to  American  Materials  and  Processes.  By  H.  S.  OSBORN,  LL.  D., 
Professor  of  Mining  and  Metallurgy  in  Lafayette  College,  Easton, 
Pennsylvania,  Illustrated  by  numerous  large  folding  plates  ana 
wood-engravings.  8vo. $15.00 

OVERMAN.— The  Manufacture  of  Steel : 
Containing  the  Practice  and  Principles  of  Working  and  Making  Steel. 
A  Handbook  for  Blacksmiths  and  Workers  in  Steel  and  Iron,  Wagon 
Makers,  Die  Sinkers,  Cutlers,  and  Manufacturers  of  Files  and  Hard- 
ware, of  Steel  and  Iron,  and  for  Men  of  Science  and  Art.  By  FRED- 
ERICK OVERMAN,  Mining  Engineer,  Author  of  the  "  Manufacture  of 
Iron,"  etc.  A  new,  enlarged,  and  revised  Edition.  By  A.  A.  FESQUET, 
Chemist  and  Engineer $1.50 

OVERMAN.— The    Moulder   and    Founder's    Pocket 

Guide : 

A  Treatise  on  Moulding  and  Founding  in  Green-sand,  Dry-sand,  Loam, 
and  Cement;  the  Moulding  of  Machine  Frames,  Mill-gear,  Hollow- 
ware,  Ornaments,  Trinkets,  Bells,  and  Statues  ;  Description  of  Moulds 
for  Iron,  Bronze,  Brass,  and  other  Metals  ;  Plaster  of  Paris,  Sulphur, 
Wax,  and  other  articles  commonly  used  in  Casting ;  the  Construction 
of  Melting  Furnaces,  the  Melting  and  Founding  of  Metals  ;  the  Com- 
position of  Alloys  and  their  Nature.  With  an  Appendix  containing 
Receipts  for  Alloys,  Bronze,  Varnishes  and  Colors  for  Castings ;  also, 
Tables  on  the  Strength  and  other  qualities  of  Cast  Metals.  By  FRED- 
ERICK OVERMAN,  Mining  Engineer,  Author  of  "The  Manufacture 
of  Iron."  With  42  Illustrations.  12mo $1.50 

Painter,  Gilder,  and  Varnisher's  Companion : 

Containing  Rules  and  Regulations  in  everything  relating  to  the  Arts 
of  Painting,  Gilding,  Varnishing,  Glass-Staining,  Grainini:,  Marbling, 
Sign- Writing,  Gilding  on  Glass, and  Coach  Painting  and  Varnishing; 
Tests  for  the  Detection  of  Adulterations  in  Oils,  Colors,  etc. ;  and  a 
Statement  of  the  Diseases  to  which  Painters  are  peculiarly  liable,  with 
the  Simplest  and  Best  Remedies.  Sixteenth  Edition,  fit-vised,  with 
an  Appendix.  Containing  Colors  and  Coloring  — Theoretical  and 
Practical.  Comprising  descriptions  of  a  great  variety  of  Additional 
Pigments,  their  Qualities  and  Uses,  to  which  are  added,  Dryers,  and 
Modes  and  Operations  of  Painting,  etc.  Together  with  Chevreul's 
Principles  of  Harmony  and  Contrast  of  Colors.  12mo.,  cloth.  $1.50 


HENRY  CAREY  BAIRD'S  CATALOGUE.  17 

PALLETT.— The  Miller's,  Millwright's,  and  Engineer's 

Guide. 
By  HENRY  PALLETT.    Illustrated.    In  one  volume,  12mo.       $3.00 

PERCY.— The  Manufacture  of  Russian  Sheet-Iron. 
By  JOHN  PERCY,  M.D.,  F.R.S.,  Lecturer  on  Metallurgy  at  the  Royal 
School  of  Mines,  and  to  The  Advanced  Class  of  Artillery  Officers  at 
the  Royal  Artillery  Institution,  Woolwich ;  Author  of  "  Metallurgy." 
With  Illustrations.   8vo.,  paper 50  cts. 

PERKINS.— Gas  and  Ventilation. 

Practical  Treatise  on  Gas  and  Ventilation.  With  Special  Relation  to 
Illuminating,  Heating,  and  Cooking  by  Gas.  Including  Scientific 
Helps  to  Engineer-students  and  others.  With  Illustrated  Diagrams. 
By  E.  E.  PERKINS.  12mo.,  cloth $1.25 

PERKINS  and  STOWE.— A  New  Guide  to  the  Sheet- 
iron  and  Boiler  Plate  Roller : 

Containing  a  Series  of  Tables  showing  the  Weight  of  Slabs  and  Piles 
to  produce  Boiler  Plates,  and  of  the  Weight  of  Piles  and  the  Sizes  of 
Bars  to  produce  Sheet-iron;  the  Thickness  of  the  Bar  Gauge  in 
decimals ;  the  Weight  per  foot,  and  the  Thickness  on  the  Bar  or  Wire 
Gauge  of  the  fractional  parts  of  an  inch  ;  the  Weight  per  sheet,  and 
the  Thickness  on  the  Wire  Gauge  of  Sheet-iron  of  various  dimensions 
to  weigh  112  Ibs.  per  bundle;  and  the  conversion  of  Short  Weight 
into  Long  Weight,  and  Long  Weight  into  Short.  Estimated  and  col- 
lected by  G.  H.  PERKINS  and  J.  G.  STOWE $2.50 

PHILLIPS  and  DARLINGTON.— Records  of  Mining 

and  Metallurgy ; 

Or  Facts  and  Memoranda  for  the  use  of  the  Mine  Agent  and  Smelter. 
By  J.  ARTHUR  PHILLIPS,  Mining  Engineer,  Graduate  of  the  Imperial 
School  of  Mines,  France,  etc.,  and  JOHN  DARLINGTON.  Illustrated 
by  numerous  engravings.  In  one  volume,  12mo.  .  .  $2.00 

PRO  TEATJX.— Practical  Guide  for  the   Manufacture 
of  Paper  and  Boards. 

By  A.  PROTEAUX,  Civil  Engineer,  and  Graduate  of  the  School  of  Arts 
and  Manufactures,  and  Director  of  Thiers'  Paper  Mill,  Puy-de-D6me. 
With  additions,  by  L.  S.  LE  NORMAND.  Translated  from  the  French, 
with  Notes,  by  HORATIO  PAINE,  A.  B.,  M.  D.  To  which  is  added  a 
Chapter  on  the  Manufacture  of  Paper  from  Wood  in  the  United 
States,  by  HENRY  T.  BROWN,  of  the  "  American  Artisan."  Illus- 
trated by  six  plates,  containing  Drawings  of  Raw  Materials,  Machi- 
nery, Plans  of  Paper-Mills,  etc.,  etc.  8vo $10.00 

RE GNAULT.— Elements  of  Chemistry. 
By  M.  V.  REGNAULT.  Translated  from  the  French  by  T.  FORREST 
BETTOX,  M.  D.,  and  edited,  with  Notes,  by  JAMES  C.  BOOTH,  Melter 
and  Refiner  U.  S.  Mint,  and  WM.  L.  FABER,  Metallurgist  and  Mining 
Engineer.  Illustrated  by  nearly  700  wood  engravings.  Comprising 
nearly  1500  pages.  In  two  volumes,  8vo.,  cloth.  .  .  .  $7.50 


18  HENRY  CAREY  BAIRD'S  CATALOGUE. 

REID. — A  Practical  Treatise  on  the  Manufacture  of 

Portland  Cement : 

By  HENRY  REID,  C.  E.  To  which  is  added  a  Translation  of  M.  A. 
Lipowitz's  Work,  describing  a  New  Method  adopted  in  Germany  lor 
Manufacturing  that  Cement,  by  W.  F.  REID.  Illustrated  l>y  plates 
and  wood  engravings.  8vo $6.00 

RIPPAULT,  VERGNAUD,  and  TOUSSAINT.— A 
Practical  Treatise  on  the  Manufacture  of  Var- 
nishes. 

By  M  M.  RIFFAULT,  VERGNAUD,  and  TOIJSSAINT.  Revised  and 
Edited  by  M.  F.  MALEPEYRE  and  Dr.  EMIL  WINCKLER.  Illustrated. 
In  one  volume,  8vo.  (In  preparation.) 

RIPPAULT,  VERGNAUD,  and  TOUSSAINT.— A 
Practical  Treatise  on  the  Manufacture  of  Colors 
for  Painting: 

Containing  the  best  Formulae  and  the  Processes  the  Newest  and  in 
most  General  Use.  By  M  M.  RIFFAULT,  VERGNAUD,  and  Tut  SSA INT. 
Revised  and  Edited  by  M.  F.  MALEPEYRE  and  Dr.  EMIL  WINCKLKI:. 
Translated  from  the  French  by  A.  A.  FESQUET,  Chemist  and  Knd- 
neer.  Illustrated  by  Engravings.  In  one  volume,  650  pages,  8vo. 

$7.50 

ROBINSON.— Explosions  of  Steam  Boilers: 
How  they  are  Caused,  and  how  they  may  be  Prevented.    By  J.  R. 
ROBINSON,  Steam  Engineer.     12mo $1.25 

ROPER. — A  Catechism  of  High  Pressure  or  Non- 
Condensing  Steam-Engines : 

Including  the  Modelling,  Constructing,  Running,  and  Management 
of  Steam  Engines  and  Steam  Boilers.  With  Illustrations.  By 
STEPHEN  ROPER,  Engineer.  Full  bound  tucks  .  .  .  $2.00 

ROSELEUR.— Galvanoplastic  Manipulations : 

A  Practical  Guide  for  the  Gold  and  Silver  Electro-plater  and  the 
Galvanoplastic  Operator.  Translated  from  the  French  of  Ai.i  KKI> 
ROSELEUR,  Chemist,  Professor  of  the  Galvanoplastic  Art,  Manufactu- 
rer of  Chemicals,  Gold  and  Silver  Electro-plater.  Hy  A.  A.  l-'r.si.n  IT, 
Chemist  and  Engineer.  Illustrated  by  over  127  Engravings  on  wood. 

8vo.,  495  pages *'i.<><» 

%^-This  Treatise  is  the  fullest  and  by  far  the  best  on  this  subject  ever 

published  in  the  United  States. 

SCHINZ.— Researches   on   the   Action   of   the    Blast 

Furnace. 

By  CHARLES  SCHINZ.  Translated  from  the  German  with  the  special 
permission  of  the  Author  by  WILLIAM  II.  MAW  ami  MOIIIT/  M  i  i - 
LER.  With  an  Appendix  written  by  the  Author  expressly  fur  this 
edition.  Illustrated  by  seven  plates,  containing  28  figures.  In  one 
volume,  12mo. $4.25 


HENRY  CAREY  BAIRD'S  CATALOGUE.  19 

SHAW.— Civil  Architecture : 


By  THOMAS  W.  SILLOWAY  and  GEORGE  M.  HARDING,  Architects. 
The  whole  illustrated  by  One  Hundred  and  Two  quarto  plates  finely 
engraved  on  copper.  Eleventh  Edition.  4to.,  cloth.  .  $10.00 

SHUNK.— A  Practical   Treatise   on   Railway  Curves 

and  Location,  for  Young  Engineers. 
By  WILLIAM  F.  SHUNK,  Civil  Engineer.     12mo.          .        .        $2.00 

SLOAN.— American  Houses : 

A  variety  of  Original  Designs  for  Rural  Buildings.  Illustrated  by  26 
colored  Engravings,  with  Descriptive  References.  By  SAMUEL  SLOAN, 
Architect,  author  of  the  "  Model  Architect,"  etc.,  etc.  8vo.  $2.50 

SMEATON.— Builder's  Pocket  Companion: 

Containing  the  Elements  of  Building,  Surveying,  and  Architecture ; 
with  Practical  Rules  and  Instructions  connected  with  the  subject. 
By  A.  C.  SMEATON,  Civil  Engineer,  etc.  In  one  volume,  12mo.  $1.50 

SMITH.— A  Manual  of  Political  Economy. 
By  E.  PESHINE  SMITH.    A  new  Edition,  to  which  is  added  a  full 
Index.    12mo.,  cloth $1.25 

SMITH.— Parks  and  Pleasure  Grounds: 

Or  Practical  Notes  on  Country  Residences,  Villas,  Public  Parks,  and 
(lardens.  By  CHARLES  H.  J.  SMITH,  Landscape  Gardener  and 
Garden  Architect,  etc.,  etc.  12mo. $2.25 

SMITH.— The  Dyer's  Instructor: 

Comprising  Practical  Instructions  in  the  Art  of  Dyeing  Silk,  Cotton, 
Wool,  and  Worsted,  and  Woollen  Goods:  containing  nearly  800 
Receipts.  To  which  is  added  a  Treatise  on  the  Art  of  Padding;  and 
the  Printing  of  Silk  Warps,  Skeins,  and  Handkerchiefs,  and  the 
various  Mordants  and  Colors  for  the  different  styles  of  such  work. 
My  DAVID  SMITH,  Pattern  Dyer.  12mo.,  cloth.  .  .  .  $3.00 

SMITH.— The  Practical  Dyer's  Guide: 

Comprising  Practical  Instructions  in  the  Dyeing  of  Shot  Cobourgs, 
Silk  Striped  Orleans,  Colored  Orleans  from  Black  Warps,  Ditto  from 
White  Warps,  Colored  Cobourgs  from  White  Warps,  Merinos,  Yarns, 
Woollen  Cloths,  etc.  Containing  nearly  300  Receipts,  to  most  of  which 
a  Dyed  Pattern  is  annexed.  Also,  A  Treatise  on  the  Art  of  Padding. 
By  DAVID  SMITH.  In  one  volume,  8vo.  Price.  .  .  $25.00 

STEWART.— The  American  System. 

Speeches  on  the  Tariff  Question,  and  on  Internal  Improvements,  princi- 
pally delivered  in  the  House  of  Representatives  of  the  I  nitcd  States. 
By  ANDREW  STEWAKT,  late  M.  C.  from  Pennsylvania.  With  a  Portrait, 
and  a  Biographical  Sketch.  In  one  volume,  8vo.,  407  pages.  $3.00 


20  HENRY  CAREY   BAIRD'S  CATALOGUE. 

STOKES. — Cabinet-maker's  and   Upholsterer's   Com- 
panion : 

Comprising  the  Rudiments  and  Principles  of  Cabinet-making  and  Up- 
holstery, with  Familiar  Instructions,  illustrated  by  Examples  lor 
attaining  a  Proficiency  in  the  Art  of  Drawing,  as  applicable  to  Cabi- 
net-work ;  the  Processes  of  Veneering,  Inlaying,  and  Buhl-work  ;  the 
Art  of  Dyeing  and  Staining  Wood,  Bone,  Tortoise  Shell,  etc.  Direc- 
tions for  Lackering,  Japanning,  and  Varnishing;  to  make  French 
Polish ;  to  prepare  the  Best  Glues,  Cements,  and  Compositions,  and  a 
number  of  Receipts  particularly  useful  for  workmen  generally.  By 
J.  STOKES.  In  one  volume,  12mo.  With  Illustrations.  .  $1.25 

Strength  and  other  Properties  of  Metals: 

Reports  of  Experiments  on  the  Strength  and  other  Properties  of  Metals 
for  Cannon.  With  a  Description  of  the  Machines  for  testing  Metals, 
and  of  the  Classification  of  Cannon  in  service.  By  Officers  of  the  Ord- 
nance Department  U.  S.  Army.  By  authority  of  the  Secretary  of  War. 
Illustrated  by  25  large  steel  plates.  In  one  volume,  4to.  .  $10.00 

SULLIVAN.— Protection  to  Native  Industry. 
By  Sir  EDWABD  SULLIVAN,  Baronet,  author  of  "  Ten  Chapters  on 
Social  Reforms."    In  one  volume,  8vo $1.50 

Tables  Showing  the  Weight  of  Round,  Square,  and 

Flat  Bar  Iron,  Steel,  etc., 
By  Measurement.     Cloth 63 

TAYLOR.— Statistics  of  Coal : 

Including  Mineral  Bituminous  Substances  employed  in  Arts  and 
Manufactures ;  with  their  Geographical,  Geological,  and  Commercial 
Distribution  and  Amount  of  Production  and  Consumption  on  the 
American  Continent.  With  Incidental  Statistics  of  the  Iron  Manu- 
facture. By  R.  C.  TAYLOR.  Second  edition,  revised  by  S.  S.  II A L- 
DEMAN.  Illustrated  by  five  Maps  and  many  wood  engravings.  8vo., 
cloth $10.00 

TEMPLETON.— The  Practical  Examinator  on  Steam 

and  the  Steam-Engine : 

With  Instructive  References  relative  thereto,  arranged  for  the  Use  of 
Engineers,  Students,  and  others.  By  WM.  TEMPLETON,  Engineer. 
12mo $1.25 

THOMAS.— The  Modern  Practice  of  Photography. 
By  R.  W.  THOMAS,  F.  C.  S.    8vo.,  cloth 75 

THOMSON.— Freight  Charges  Calculator. 
By  ANDREW  THOMSON,  Freight  Agent.    24mo.    .        .        .        $1.25 

TURNING:   Specimens  of  Fancy  Turning  Executed 

on  the  Hand  or  Foot  Lathe: 

With  Geometric,  Oval,  and  Eccentric  Chucks,  and  Elliptical  Cutting 
Frame.  By  an  Amateur.  Illustrated  by  30  exquisite  Photographs. 
4to $3.00 


HENRY  CAREY  BAIRD'S  CATALOGUE.  21 

Turner's  (The)  Companion: 

Containing  Instructions  in  Concentric,  Elliptic,  and  Eccentric  Turn- 
ing: also  various  Plates  of  Chucks,  Tools,  and  Instruments  ;  and  Di- 
rections for  using  the  Eccentric  Cutter,  Drill,  Vertical  Cutter,  and 
Circular  Rest ;  with  Patterns  and  Instructions  for  working  them.  A 
new  edition  in  one  volume,  12mo.  $1.50 

URBIN.— BRULL.— A  Practical   Guide  for  Puddling 

Iron  and  Steel. 

By  ED.  URBIN,  Engineer  of  Arts  and  Manufactures.  A  Prize  Essay 
read  before  the  Association  of  Engineers,  Graduate  of  the  School  of 
Mines,  of  Liege,  Belgium,  at  the  Meeting  of  1 865-6.  To  which  is  added 
A  COMPARISON  OF  THE  RESISTING  PROPERTIES  OF  IRON  AND  STEEL. 
By  A.  BRULL.  Translated  from  the  French  by  A.  A.  FESQUET,  Che- 
mist and  Engineer.  In  one  volume,  8vo $1.00 

VAILE. — Galvanized  Iron  Cornice- Worker's  Manual: 

Containing  Instructions  in  Laying  out  the  Different  Mitres,  and  Ma- 
king Patterns  for  all  kinds  of  Plain  and  Circular  Work.  Also,  Tables 
of  Weights,  Areas  and  Circumferences  of  Circles,  and  other  Mattel- 
calculated  to  Benefit  the  Trade.  By  CHARLES  A.  VAILE,  Superin- 
tendent "  Richmond  Cornice  Works,"  Richmond,  Indiana.  Illustra- 
ted by  21  Plates.  In  one  volume,  4to $5.00 

VILLE.— The  School  of  Chemical  Manures : 

Or,  Elementary  Principles  in  the  Use  of  Fertilizing  Agents.  From  the 
French  of  M.  GEORGE  VlLLE,  by  A.  A.  FESQUET,  Chemist  and  Engi- 
neer. With  Illustrations.  In  one  volume,  12  mo.  .  .  $1.25 

VOGDES.— The  Architect's  and  Builder's  Pocket  Com- 
panion and  Price  Book: 

Consisting  of  a  Short  but  Comprehensive  Epitome  of  Decimals,  Duo- 
decimals, Geometry  and  Mensuration ;  with  Tables  of  U.  S.  Measures, 
Sizes,  Weights,  Strengths,  etc.,  of  Iron,  Wood,  Stone,  and  various 
other  Materials,  Quantities  of  Materials  in  Given  Sizes,  and  Dimen- 
sions of  Wood,  Brick,  and  Stone;  and  a  full  and  complete  Bill  of 
Prices  for  Carpenter's  Work ;  also,  Rules  for  Computing  and  Valuing 
Brick  and  Brick  Work,  Stone  Work,  Painting,  Plastering^  etc.  By 
FRANK  W.  VOGDES,  Architect.  Illustrated.  Full  bound  in  pocket- 
book  form $2.00 

Bound  in  cloth. 1.50 

WARN.— The  Sheet-Metal  Worker's  Instructor: 

For  Zinc,  Sheet-Iron,  Copper,  and  Tin-Plate  Workers,  etc.  Contain- 
ing a  selection  of  Geometrical  Problems;  also,  Practical  and  Simple 
Rules  for  describing  the  various  Patterns  required  in  the  different 
branches  of  the  above  Trades.  By  REUBEN  H.  WARN,  Practical  Tin- 
plate  Worker.  To  which  is  added  an  Appendix,  containing  Instruc- 
tions for  Boiler  Making,  Mensuration  of  Surfaces  and  Solids,  Rules  for 
Calculating  the  Weights  of  different  Figures  of  Iron  and  Steel,  Tables 
of  the  Weights  of  Iron,  Steel,  etc.  Illustrated  by  32  Plates  and  37 
Wood  Engravings.  8vo. $3.00 


22  HENRY  CAREY   BAIRD'S  CATALOGUE. 

WARNER.— New    Theorems,  Tables,  and    Diagrams 

for  the  Computation  of  Earth- Work : 
Designed  for  the  use  of  Engineers  in  Preliminary  and  Final  Estimates, 
of  Students  in  Engineering,  and  of  Contractors  and  other  non-pnilt-,- 
sional  Computers.  In  Two  Parts,  with  an  Appendix.  Part  I. — A 
Practical  Treatise  ;  Part  II. — A  Theoretical  Treatise;  and  the  Appen- 
dix. Containing  Notes  to  the  Rules  and  Examples  of  Part  I. ;  Expla- 
nations'of  the  Construction  of  Scales,  Tables,  and  Diagrams,  and  a 
Treatise  upon  Equivalent  Square  Bases  and  Equivalent  Level  1 1  eights. 
The  whole  illustrated  by  numerous  original  Engravings,  comprising 
Explanatory  Cuts  for  Definitions  and  Problems,  Stereometric  > 
and  Diagrams,  and  a  Series  of  Lithographic  Drawings  from  Models, 
showing  all  the  Combinations  of  Solid  Forms  which  occur  in  Railroad 
Excavations  and  Embankments.  By  JOHN  WARNER,  A.  M.,  Mining 
and  Mechanical  Engineer.  8vo $T>.OU 

WATSON.— A  Manual  of  the  Hand-Lathe: 

Comprising  Concise  Directions  for  working  Metals  of  all  kinds,  Ivory, 
Bone  and  Precious  Woods;  Dyeing,  Coloring,  and  French  Polishing; 
Inlaying  by  Veneers,  and  various  methods  practised  to  prodtiee  Klabo- 
rate  work  with  Dispatch,  and  at  Small  Expense.  By  EGBERT  P. 
WATSON,  late  of  "The  Scientific  American,"  Author  of  "  The  Modern 
Practice  of  American  Machinists  and  Engineers."  Illustrated  by  7S 
Engravings 

WATSON.— The  Modern  Practice  of  American   Ma- 
chinists and  Engineers: 

Including  the  Construction,  Application,  and  Use  of  Drills,   Lathe 


Together 

with  Workshop  Management,  Economy  of  Manufacture,  the  Steum- 
Engine,  Boilers,  Gears,  Belting,  etc.,  etc.  By  EGBERT  P.  WATSON, 
late  of  the  "  Scientific  American."  Illustrated  by  86  Enirravings.  In 
one  volume,  12mo 

WATSON.— The  Theory  and  Practice  of  the  Art  of 
Weaving  by  Hand  and  Power : 

With  Calculations  and  Tables  for  the  use  of  those  connected  with  the 
Trade.  By  JOHN  WATSOX,  Manufacturer  and  Practical  Machine 
Maker.  Illustrated  by  large  Drawings  of  the  best  Power  Looms. 
8vo $10.00 

WEATHERLY.— Treatise  on  the  Art  of  Boiling  Su- 
gar, Crystallizing,  Lozenge-making,  Comfits,  Gum 
Goods. 
12mo $2.00 

WEDDING.— The  Metallurgy  of  Iron ; 

Theoretically  and  Practically  Considered.  By  Dr.  If KKM ANN  Wi.n- 
DING,  Professor  of  the  Metallurgy  of  Iron  at  the  Roval  Mining 
Academy,  Berlin.  Translated  by  JULIUS  Du  MONT,  Bethlehem,  I'a. 
Illustrated  by  207  Engravings  on  Wood,  and  three  Plates.  In  one 
volume,  8vo.  (In  press.) 


HENRY  CAREY  BAIRD'S  CATALOGUE.  23 

WILL. — Tables  for  Qualitative  Chemical  Analysis. 
By  Professor  HEINRICH  WILL,  of  Giessen,  Germany.     Seventh  edi- 
tion.   Translated  by  CHARLES  F.  HIMES,  Ph.  D.,  Professor  of  Natu- 
ral Science,  Dickinson  College,  Carlisle,  Pa.         .        .        .          $1.50 

WILLIAMS.— On  Heat  and  Steam: 

Embracing  New  Views  of  Vaporization,  Condensation,  and  Explosions. 
By  CHARLES  WYE  WILLIAMS,  A.  I.  C.  E.    Illustrated.    8vo.      $3.50 

WOHLER.— A  Hand-Book  of  Mineral  Analysis. 
By  F.  WOHLER,  Professor  of  Chemistry  in  the  University  of  Gottin- 
gen.    Edited  by  HENRY  B.  NASON,  Professor  of  Chemistry  in  the 
Rensselaer  Polytechnic  Institute,  Troy,  New  York.     Illustrated.     In 
one  volume,  12mo $3  00 

WOBSSAM.— On  Mechanical  Saws: 

From  the  Transactions  of  the  Society  of  Engineers,  1869.    By  S.  W. 
WORSSAM,  Jr.    Illustrated  by  18  large  plates.    8vo.      .        .        $5.00 


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